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PRESENTED  BY 
Franklin  W.  Scott 
1946-1947 

928.1 

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1884 


Presented  to 

The  University  of  Illinois 
Library  of  Journalism 


Franklin  W.  Scott 


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https://archive.org/details/fiftyyearsamonga00derb_0 


Eng  * cy  GecE.  Perms ,N York. 


FIFTY  YEARS 


AMONG 

AUTHORS, 

BOOKS  AND  PUBLISHERS. 


J.  G.  DEEBT. 


all  of  which  I saw, 

And  part  of  which  I was.” 


NEW  YORK: 

COPYRIGHT,  1884,  BY 

G.  W.  Carleton  & Co.,  Publishers , 

LONDON  I S.  LOW,  SON  & CO. 

MDCCCLXXXIV. 


TROW'S 

PRINTING  AND  BOOKBINDING  COMPANY, 
NEW  YORK. 


Stereotyped  by 
8amuel  Stoddbk, 
42  Dey  Street,  N.  Y. 


A>44 4- 
I 2 2 4 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTORY.  A Book  Clerk  at  Fifteen — Why  and  how 
this  Volume  was  written — Early  Business  Career— Becomes  a Book 
Publisher  — Origin  of  Bancroft’s  California  Bookstore  — Author’s 
removal  to  New  York — Continues  a Successful  Book  Publisher — 
The  Book  Publisher’s  Festival — United  States  Agent  for  Paris  Ex- 
position— The  Century  Club — Commodore  Vanderbilt’s  Steamship — 
William  Orton  and  other  Friends 21 

HENRY  IVISON.  Early  apprenticeship  to  William  Williams  of 
Utica — Opens  a book  store  in  Auburn — S.  Wells  Williams — Ex-Gov. 
Throop,  and  the  Albany  Regency — President  Van  Buren  on  a fence 
— Mr.  Seward  and  AVashington  Irving — Ivison  removes  to  New 
York — Mark  H.  Newman  & Co. — Newman  & Ivison — Sad  death  of 
John  C.  Ivison — Ivison,  Phinney,  Blakeman  & Co. — The  thirty-day 
credit  system — He  astonishes  Trubner  & Co.,  London — Immense  sales 
of  school-books — Retires  with  an  ample  fortune 49 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD.  Early  recollections  of  Mr  Seward — 
He  meets  General  Lafayette  and  Washington  Irving — Elected  Gov- 
ernor of  New  York — Seward,  Weed,  and  Greeley — Writes  Life  of 
John  Quincy  Adams — General  Taylor  advised — Solomon  Northrup 
kidnapped — Murder  of  the  Van  Nest  family — Eloquent  defense  of 
William  Freeman — The  Trial  published  in  book  form — Gladstone’s 
compliment — Irrepressible  Conflict  and  Higher  Law — J.  G.  Whit- 
tier’s poetical  tribute — Author  appointed  U.  S.  dispatch  agent — 
Attempted  assassination  of  Mr.  Seward  — Dr.  Verdi’s  thrilling  ac- 
count— Interesting  anecdotes — AVonderful  journey  around  the  world 
— Mr.  Seward’s  death — His  monument  in  Madison  Square 56 

HARPER  & BROTHERS.  First  call  on  Harper  & Brothers — 
Their  early  business  hours — Anecdotes  of  their  early  home — James 
Harper’s  fund  of  Humor — Elected  Mayor — His  lesson  to  hackmen — 
Accident  causing  his  death — John  Harper’s  fondness  for  horses— Will 

[vii] 


8 


CONTENTS. 


not  work  on  Sunday — Honored  life  and  peaceful  death — Wesley 
Harper  the  beloved  brother — First  visit  to  a theatre — Fletcher  Har- 
per’s great  achievement — Thurlow  Weed’s  shrewdness — Fletcher 
Harper’s  noted  Monday  dinners—  His  death  greatly  mourned — The 
present  firm — Traditions  of  the  founders 86 

S.  G.  GOODRICH.  Peter  Parley’s  celebrated  stories  for  chil- 
dren— Mr.  Goodrich’s  first  experience  as  a publisher — Is  sold  himself 
instead  of  the  book  McFingal — Early  aid  to  Nathaniel  Hawthorne 
— How  Twice  Told  Tales  was  published — A child  thinks  Peter 
Parley  a humbug — Older  heads  disenchanted — His  Natural  History 
and  Prof.  Agassiz — Drinks  wine  with  Walter  Scott — Lockhart's 
opinion  of  Cooper’s  novels — Wonderful  circulation  of  Peter  Parley’s 
Tales — Mr.  Goodrich’s  sudden  death 110 

FRANK  B.  GOODRICH.  DickTinto  and  New  York  Times — 
The  Court  of  Napoleon — Beauties,  Wits  and  Heroines — Women  of 
Beauty — Magnificent  Tribute  Book — Literary  talents  inherited..  .123 

HORACE  GREELEY.  Horace  Greeley’s  New  Yorker — Founder 
of  the  New  York  Tribune — Meets  Thomas  McElrath — Writes  Author 
about  Loco-Focos — Solon  Robinson’s  Hot  Corn — His  American  Con- 
flict— Recollections  of  a Busy  Life — Home  at  Chappaqua — Phoebe 
Cary  visits  Him — His  Opinion  of  Thurlow  Weed — Robert  Bonner 
Captures  Horace  Greeley — How  Greeley  and  McElrath  crossed  a 
Ferry — Closing  Incidents  of  his  Life — Death  of  Horace  Greeley — 
Banker  Poet  Stedman’s  Tribute  to  his  Memory 127 

THOMAS  McELRATH.  McElrath  and  Bangs — First  American 
reader  of  “Don  Juan” — Practices  Law  with  Judge  Daly — Enters 
Methodist  Book  Concern — Partnership  with  Horace  Greeley — Great 
success  of  the  Tribune — Prominent  Seward  Whig — Tribune  Building 
Destroyed  by  Fire — Escape  of  R.  M.  Strebeigh — McElrath  as  an 
Author — President  of  Nassau  Bank — Official  Positions — Anecdote  of 
Greeley — Preparing  Reminiscences 141 

WILLIAM  CULLEN  BRYANT.  The  foremost  American  citi- 
zen— Grand  reception  at  the  State  Capitol — Visits  Governor  Tilden — 
Habits  of  daily  life — City  and  country— Never  knew  a sick  day — 
His  Autobiography — History  of  the  United  States — Library  of  Poetry 
and  Song — Picturesque  America — President  of  Century  Club — Grand 
testimonial  by  its  members — His  Opinion  of  Tilden  and  Hayes — Prob- 
ably voted  for  Tilden — “ Thanatopsis  ” — “A  Pagan  Poem  ” — “The 
Waterfowl  ” — Relations  with  Weed  and  Greeley — Statute  of  Mazzini 
— Delivers  his  last  Oration  — Fatal  accident  to  Mr.  Bryant  — His 
Death — Impressive  Funeral  Services — Feeling  Address  by  his  Pastor, 
Rev.  Dr.  Bellows — Commemorative  Services 150 

D.  APPLETON  & CO.  The  Infinitely  Great  and  the  Infinitely 
Little — Daniel  Appleton  and  Jonathan  Leavitt — A Sailor  calls  for  a 
Peck  of  Gospel  Seeds — William  H.  Appleton’s  Two  Voyages  to 


CONTENTS. 


9 


Europe — Interesting  Anecdotes — Timely  Advice  of  a Friend — A Cor- 
dial Appleton  Embrace — Daniel  Appleton  goes  to  Europe— Astonishes 
John  Bull — Secures  great  Bargains  in  Paris — Author’s  first  Call  on 
the  Appleton’s — Publication  of  Picturesque  America — The  American 
Cyclopedia — Cost  over  Half  a Million  Dollars — Enormous  Sales— 
Pusey  and  Darwin  raise  a Storm — Warning  from  Bishop  Whitting- 
ham  — Immense  Sale  of  Seward’s  Travels  — General  Sherman  on 
Book  Canvassers — Beaconsti eld’s  Lothair  Secured  by  Cable — Profes- 
sor Y ouman’s  Scientific  Enterprise — John  A.  Appleton’s  business 
Habits  and  Christian  Character — Generous  Church  Contributions — 
“ John  was  the  best  of  all  of  us  ” — His  peaceful  Death 173 

GEORGE  RIPLEY  AND  CHARLES  A.  DANA.  Mr.  Dana 
suggests  a new  Cyclopedia — Becomes,  with  George  Ripley  an  Editor  in 
chief — “A  walking  Cyclopedia  ’’—The  American  Cyclopedia  illustra- 
ted— Quarter  of  a million  dollars  copyright — Literary  Editor  of 
the  Tribune — Death  of  Mr.  Ripley — Only  Poem  ever  written  by  him 
— Mr.  Dana  Assistant  Secretary  of  War — Return  to  Journalism — 
Purchases  the  New  York  Sun — Dana’s  Household  Book  of  Poetry — 
“The  Sun  which  shines  for  all.” 193 

ROBERT  BONNER.  Founding  the  Ledger — A Million  Dollars 
Paid  for  Advertising — His  Country  Seat  for  Sale,  Mosquitos,  Fever 
and  Ague  included — His  Pluck  and  Persistency  Captures  Fanny  Fern 
— Brilliant  List  of  Contributors — Pays  Henry  Ward  Beecher  $30,000 
for  writing  “Norwood” — Fanny  Fern’s  Child  and  Grandchild  Con- 
tributors— Bonner’s  Liberality  to  Authors — His  Novel  Way  of  Adver- 
tising— The  Ledger  Captures  Fletcher  Harper’s  Children — Bonner’s 
Two  Mottoes — His  Test  of  Authors  by  their  MSS. — Why  he  Drives 
Fast  Horses — Generous  Aid  to  Mr.  Beecher 200 

FANNY  FERN. — Fanny  Fern’s  bright  and  pungent  Sketches — 
Witty,  tender  and  touching — Living  in  destitution  in  Boston — A 
Proposition  which  surprises  her — Oliver  Dyer,  the  Friend  in  Need — 
How  Derby  & Miller  became  her  Publishers — Why  she  called  herself 
Fanny  Fern — Great  success  of  her  first  Book — Soliloquy  to  her  old 
Inkstand — Fanny  Fern  sends  Burglars  after  Bonner — Visits  Beecher’s 
early  Home — Beecher’s  Recollections  of  Fanny  Fern’s  School  Days — 
Letters  to  her  Publisher — Supposed  Portrait  of  her  Brother,  N.  P. 
Willis — “ I like  you  and  your  writings.”. 208 

JAMES  PARTON.  A modern  Plutarch — First  literary  effort — 
N.  P.  Willis  his  first  patron — Mason  Brothers’  liberal  offer — Writes 
Life  of  Horace  Greely — His  other  famous  biographies — A pains-taking 
Historian  with  “British  pluck.” 220 

THOMAS  BAILEY  ALDRICH.  Calls  on  the  Author  with  his 
first  Verses — A Friend  who  never  had  so  much  of  one  Thing  he 
wanted  so  little  of — Becomes  Reader  of  MSS.  for  his  Publisher — Gets 
Five  Dollars  for  “ Baby  Bell  ” — The  young  autocrat  Editor  taken  by 
Surprise — Desk  of  Edgar  Allen  Poe — Aldrich  pays  for  his  Morning 


10 


CONTENTS 


Naps — How  Carleton’s  Trade-Mark  was  selected — The  “ Story  of  a 
Bad  Boy,”  his  own  Career — Hawthorne’s  delicate  Tribute — Memento 
to  his  lirst  Publisher — Nocturne 227 


GEORGE  W.  CARLETON.  Publisher,  Author  and  Artist — 
Two  Little  Cherubs  with  a big  load  to  carry — Immortalization  of 
Miss  Flora  McFlimsey,  of  Madison  Square — Authorship  disputed — 
Carleton  adds  fuel  to  the  fire — Professor  Ingraham’s  Tragic  Death — 
Publishes  Aldrich’s  “ True  Love,”  and  finds  his  Trade-mark — Victor 
Hugo’s  “ Les  Miserables,”  and  Michelet’s  Translations — Carleton  in 
the  Crockery  business — Artemus  Ward  takes  Brandy  and  Water — 
Lecture  to  Brigham  Young  and  One  Wife — Enormous  sale  of  Josh 
Billings’  Alminax 235 


ALICE  AND  PHCEBE  CARY.  Sweet  and  Musical  Name— 
Alice  Earns  Her  first  Ten  Dollars — Pictures  of  Memory — Griswold, 
Greeley  and  Whittier — Noted  Literary  Writers — Reminiscences  of 
Savage  and  Wight — Mary  Clemmer’s  Memorial — Alice  Cary  Wades 
in  Clover — Her  Countless  Little  Namesakes — The  Carys  at  Husking 
Bee — Phoebe  Cary’s  Witticisms — The  Yankee  in  China — Her  Beauti- 
ful Hymn  “Nearer  Home” — Monument  to  the  Cary  Sisters 245 

H.  O.  HOUGHTON— HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  & CO.  River- 
side Press  and  its  founder — The  “ Printer’s  Devil  ” and  Noah  Web- 
ster— Young  Houghton  becomes  Editor — Burning  of  the  Ocean 
Monarch — Houghton  raises  his  first  Capital — Timely  aid  from  Ala- 
bama— “ I married  your  Wife’s  Cousin  ” — Founds  the  Riverside  Press 
— Consolidation  of  Firms — Atlantic  Monthly  is  Born — Meets  Alice  and 
Phoebe  Cary — Three  Famous  Festivals — Whittier  Dinner — Holmes’ 
Breakfast — Stowe  Party — Disappointed  lady  Contributors — Riverside 
Press  Employees — Cambridge  a Happy  Home 271 

JOHN  WILEY.  John  Wiley  a familiar  name  — His  Father 
travels  with  Cooper — Publishes  his  “Spy”  and  Pioneer” — The 
Bread  and  Cheese  Club — Bryant,  Paulding,  Halleck  among  the  Mem- 
bers— John  Jacob  Astor  too  poor  to  buy  eggs — Forms  Partnership 
with  Putnam — Publishes  John  Ruskin’s  Works — Successful  Pub- 
lisher— His  Golden  Wedding 292 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM.  In  the  Front  Rank  of  Publish- 
ers— Fellow  Clerk  with  William  H.  Appleton — Becomes  an  Author  at 
Eighteen — Starts  a Branch  in  London — Effectually  refutes  Allison, 
the  Historian — Bayard  Taylor  applies  for  aid — Beginning  of  a long- 
lived  Friendship — Edgar  A.  Poe  astonishes  the  Natives — James  Rus- 
sell Lowell’s  Fables — The  “ Wide  Wide  World”  and  “Providence” 
— Becomes  Irving’s  Publisher — Astonishes  John  Bull  with  “ Sketch 
Book” — Establishes  Putnam’s  Magazine — First  Advocate  of  Inter- 
national Copyright — Prince  Albert,  Irving  and  Putnam — Irving’s 
First  and  only  Love — Thackeray  Lectures  at  Yonkers — Mr.  Putnam’s 


CONTENTS. 


11 


Sudden  Death  Mourned  and  Greatly  Regretted — G.  P.  Putnam’s 
Sons 299 


GEORGE  BANCROFT.  Bancroft’s  History  began  fifty  years 
ago — Author  states  his  plans  at  the  outset — His  steady  application 
and  persistence — Important  literary  assistance  in  Europe — Meets 
Thiers,  Guizot  and  other  historians — Lord  Byron  gives  him  Don 
Juan — Makes  an  Effective  revenue  Collector — Gives  Hawthorne  his 
first  clerkship — Prescott’s  Appeal  and  Daniel  Webster’s  rebuff — Ban- 
croft and  Emerson,  like  brothers — Meets  Washington  Irving  in 
France — Sees  the  Sketch-book  in  MS. — Mr.  Bancroft’s  great  library 
— Its  possible  destination — Founds  the  United  States  Naval  Academy 
— Completes  his  History  of  the  United  States 321 

GEORGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS.  Name  of  Mr.  Childs  a household 
word — Becomes  a bookseller’s  clerk — Author  first  meets  him — Metes 
out  retributive  Justice — Gives  a great  banquet  at  Continental — Early 
characteristics  of  Childs — He  never  lost  a friend — Despises  meanness 
and  hates  a liar — “ I shall  yet  be  owner  of  the  Public  Ledger” — 
Publishes  Dr.  Kane’s  famous  book — Allibone’s  great  Dictionary  of 
Authors — Mr.  Child’s  boundless  Charities — Interesting  letters  re- 
ceived at  the  Banquet — Wonderful  Success  of  the  Ledger — Haw- 
thorne sends  Childs  the  Scarlet  Letter — James  T.  Fields  gives  its 
History — Death  of  William  D.  Ticknor — Nathaniel  Hawthorne  soon 
follows — Charles  Dickens  invites  Childs  to  Gad’s  Hill — Childs  erects 
a Monument  to  Poe  — Childs  and  Drexel  not  unlike  Cheeryble 
Brothers 333 

HENRY  J.  RAYMOND.  Four  great  Editors  who  became  Au- 
thors, Bryant,  Greeley,  Weed  and  Raymond — Founding  the  “New 
York  Times” — Raymond  contributes  “ all  he  owed  ” to  the  Capital 
Stock — George  Jones  an  Albany  Bookseller — Raymond  elected  Lieut 
Governor  of  New  York — Challenged  by  William  L.  Yancey — Ex- 
tracts from  Raymond’s  Journal — Nominates  Andrew  Johnson  for 
Vice-President — Great  Sale  of  Raymond’s  “ Life  of  Lincoln” — Fare- 
well Dinner — Miles  O’Reilly  got  all  down  and  more  too — Beecher’s 
Letter  to  Dana — Raymond’s  Speech  at  Dickens’  Banquet — His  sudden 
death — Beecher’s  Eloquent  Tribute  at  his  Funeral 352 

GEORGE  JONES.  George  Jones  assumes  control  of  the  Times 
— When  $100,000  would  have  been  cheap — Edwin  B.  Morgan  his 
chief  associate — Breaks  up  the  Tammany  Ring — Tweed  wanted  to 
buy  the  Times — Not  for  sale  at  any  price — The  Tribute  Book — Hud- 
son’s Splendid  Tribute  to  Jones 363 


CHEVALIER  WII^OFF.  Thurlow  Weed’s  Letter  about  Wikoff 
— The  Latter’s  Courtship  of  Jane  Gamble — Becomes  a Roving  Diplo- 
matist— Meets  Many  Celebrities — James  Gordon  Bennett  Startles 
Him — Brings  Fanny  Ellsler  to  America — Charles  Sumner  and  Fanny 


12 


CONTENTS. 


Ellsler — Intimate  Friend  of  Napoleon — Chevalier  Wikoff  finds  his 
Publisher — The  Consequences  of  his  Courtship — Imprisoned  for 
Abduction — Reminiscences  of  an  Idler — Dies  at  Brighton 368 


G.  & C.  MERRIAM.  Author  first  meets  them  forty  years 
ago — George  Merriam  surprises  the  author — A great  undertaking — 
Well  advertised — Get  the  Best — Three  thousand  engravings  added — 
Untold  number  of  copies  sold — Busy  fingers  of  girls,  women  and  men 
— George  Merriam  visits  negro  schools  and  churches — “ Do  it  now  ” 
— “ Done  it  now  ” — “ Do  it  yesterday  ” — A good  man  dies — Present 
members  of  the  firm — Splendid  Summary  of  the  Unabridged. . . .377 


J.  B.  LTPPINCOTT.  Early  Business  Experience — Buys  out 
Grigg  & Elliott — Important  Publications — Pronouncing  Gazetteer  of 
the  World — Secures  Publications  of  Prescott’s  Works — Angry  War 
Threats  of  Southerners — Lippincott’s  long  look  ahead — Builds  Spa- 
cious New  Quarters — Allibone’s  Dictionary  of  Authors — Discovers 
“ Ouida  ” to  be  a Woman — “Held  in  Bondage” — Prefers  Thack- 
eray’s writings  to  all  others — Mr.  Lippincott  a good  traveler 382 


AUGUSTA  J.  EVANS  WILSON.  A Young  Southern  Author 
ess  MS.  of  “ Beulah  ” accepted — A fiery  Young  Southerner — 
“ Didn’t  I tell  you  so?” — Immense  Success  of  “Beulah” — Macaria 
appears  in  War  Time — Liberality  of  Lippincott — “A  Lady  is  waiting 
to  see  you  ” — The  Author  agreeably  surprised — St.  Elmo — Vashti — 
Infelice — Nearly  $100,000  Copyright — Happy  Home  in  Mobile — 
Woman  Suffrage — Good  Influence  of  her  Books 389 


JOHN  ESTEN  COOKE.  Best  representative  of  Southern  Au- 
thorship— Whole  edition  of  first  book  burned — Novelist,  Historian 
and  Biographer — An  Author  with  many  Publishers — Poets  and  Poe- 
try of  the  South — Stonewall  Jackson’s  Life  written  on  the  Battlefield 
— General  Lee  gives  His  Consent — “I  have  Loved  thee  ever  dearly, 
Florence  Vane” — Washington  Irving’s  gardener  says,  “ It’s  Twins  ! 
It’s  Twins  !” — Anecdotes  of  Thackeray  and  G.  P.  R.  James — His 
happy  Home  in  Virginia 400 

B.  P.  SHILLABER  (Mrs.  Partington).  How  Mrs.  Partington 
looks — Ancient  Motherly  Woman  with  Cap  and  Spectac  les — Wonder- 
ful Popularity  of  her  Sayings — The  Origin  of  her  Book — How  a 
Bonanza  struck  the  author — Rich  as  Vanderbilt  or  Gould— Artemus 
Ward — Miles  O’Reilly — John  G.  Saxe 407 


MIRIAM  BERRY  WHITCHER  (Widow  Bedott).  Joseph 
Neal’s  Charcoal  Sketches — Charles  Dickens  appropriates  them — 
George  P.  Putnam’s  Statement — “Widow  Bedott”  discovered — 
Miriam  Berry,  a young  country  girl,  the  author — “ Bursting  into  tits 


CONTENTS. 


13 


of  laughter  ” — Alice  B.  Neal  becomes  Alice  B.  Haven — Popularity  of 
“Cousin  Alice” — One  hundred  thousand  Bedott  Papers  sold — 
“ Widow  Bedott  ” a household  god 413 

GEORGE  D.  PRENTICE  (Prenticiana).  Prentice  and  the 
Louisville  Journal — Brilliant  wit  in  paragraphs — A few  Specimen 
Bricks — Encourages  young  Writers — Author  first  meets  Prentice — 
Prentice  defies  Mike  Walsh — “ You  have  skinned  me  from  the  crown 
of  my  head  to  the  sole  of  my  feet  ” — “ I cannot  kill  a disarmed  man  ” 
Prentice  gives  Whittier  his  first  start — “ We’ve  shared  each  other’s 
smiles  and  tears” 419 

CHARLES  G.  HALPINE  (Miles  O’Reilly).  A Young  Irish 
Poet  appears — Chuck  full  of  Wit  and  Humor — Lyrics  by  the  Letter 
“H” — “Haul  down  the  Starry  Flag” — Sambo’s  right  to  be  kilt — 
Private  Miles  O’Reilly  settles  it — Major  Halpine  warns  Lincoln — A 
night  ride  with  Miles  OTteilly — “Oh  ! Chemisette  ! the  fairest  yet  ” — 
Miles  O’Reilly  elected  Register  of  New  York — Halpine’s  unexpected 
Death — Forney’s  Tribute  to  his  Memory 426 

JOEL  CHANDLER  HARRIS.  Best  Delineator  of  Negro  Cha- 
racter— A Successful  Writer  of  African  Humor — Author  of  “Uncle 
Remus  ” not  born  in  Africa — Folk-lore  in  the  Old  Plantation — Squir- 
rels, Jay-birds,  and  Wood-peckers — A Printing-Office  in  the  Woods — 
General  Sherman  wipes  it  out — William  H.  Seward  teaches  School 
in  Georgia — Harris  meets  author  of  Major  Jones’  Courtship — Charles 
A.  Dana  and  John  Bigelow — Wonderful  Tar  Baby  Story 433 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER.  A.  C.  ARMSTRONG.  Baker  & 
Scribner  embark  in  the  Book  Business — The  old  Brick  Church  and 
Times  Building — Andrew  Armstrong  as  a young  man — Wonderful 
Success  of  Headley’s  Books — N.  P.  Willis’  Queer  Book  Titles — Ik 
Marvel  a Successful  Author — A $100,000  Undertaking — Death  of 
Charles  Scribner — Marion  Harland’s  “Common  Sense” — Death  of 
Blair  Scribner  and  Edward  Seymour — Encyclopedia  Britannica — 
Five  Million  Dollars’  Worth  Sold — Charles  Scribner’s  Sons 441 


THE  BEECHER  FAMILY.  Lyman  Beecher  and  his  Gifted 
Children — Remarkable  family  of  Authors — Six  Sermons  on  Intempe- 
rance— The  aged  Pastor’s  Return — A young  Wife  at  seventy-five — 
Catherine  Beecher  as  an  Author — Gayest,  kindest  and  merriest  of 
Women — Tragic  Death  of  her  Lover — Her  success  as  a Teacher — 
Yankee  Girls  go  West  to  get  married — Edward  Beecher  as  an  Author 
— “We’re  going  to  give  you  Hell  to-morrow  ” — A religious  and  com- 
mercial standpoint — George  Beecher’s  wonderful  Memory — How 
Henry  Ward  was  cheated — Tragic  Death  of  George  Beecher 446 

HARRIET  BEECHER  STOWE.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe’s  fame 
as  an  Author — Immense  Sale  of  “Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin” — Its  Publi- 
cation in  all  Languages — Magnificent  Testimonial  to  its  Author — 


14 


CONTENTS. 


“ Uncle  Tom  was  given  to  me  -“  I will  have  some  supper” — Arch- 
bishop What  eley,  Gladstone  and  Dean  Alford — They  praise  “The 
Minister’s  Wooing  ” — Professor  Stowe  an  Author 452 

HENRY  WARD  BEECHER.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  as  an  Au- 
thor— Great  Success  of  his  Star  Papers — Beecher  and  Randolph  the 
Publisher — Beecher’s  fame  in  England — Rev.  Dr.vParkers  Testi- 
mony— Rather  be  executed  than  read  the  Book — How  Henry  Ward 
began  to  buy  Books  — Martin  Van  Buren  hears  him  preach  — 
“Trousers  did  not  set  very  well  ” — Beecher’s  attachment  to  Bonner 
— He  smokes  cigars  with  Stanton — Washington  Irving  hears  bass  to 
the  tune  of  Thunder — A Texas  Tribute  to  Henry  Ward  Beecher — 
Charles  Beecher  as  an  Author — Henry  Ward  Beecher  and  his  Nephew 
— Mrs.  Beecher’s  “Dawn  to  Daylight  ” — “ Motherly  Talks  ” — “All 
around  the  House  ” 461 

GEORGE  E.  BAKER.  A Political  Historian  and  Modern  Bos- 
well— Life  and  Works  of  Seward — Founder  of  Prison  Association — 
Disbursing  Agent  for  State  Department — An  Excitement  in  the  Cab- 
inet— Author  startles  Government  Officials — James  Gordon  Bennett, 
Sen. — “ 1 guess  it’s  true,  we’ll  prent  it” — Kossuth  makes  Daniel  Web- 
ster Weep — Greeley  proposes  Bryant  for  Secretary  of  State — Splen- 
did Tribute  to  Seward’s  Works • 477 

FRANK  B.  CARPENTER.  A great  Historical  Painter — Opens 
a Studio  in  New  York — Conceives  a Grand  Picture — Friends  appear 
in  Time  of  Need — Reception  by  President  Lincoln — “ We  will  turn 
you  loose  in  here  ” — The  Cry  of  Ethiopia  for  Help — Pope’s  Disaster 
at  Bull  Run — Emancipation  Proclamation  Issued — Immense  Sale  of 
the  Picture — Mrs.  Thompson’s  Munificent  Gift — Original  Painting 
presented  to  the  Government — Abraham  Lincoln  and  Artemus  Ward 
— Six  Months  in  the  White  House 485 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  “ Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederate  Gov- 
ernment”— A Visit  to  Jefferson  Davis — Hospitable  Reception  at 
Beauvoir — A Yet  Unfinished  Book — Judge  Tenny  Comes  to  the  Res- 
cue— Sarah  A.  Dorsey’s  Bequest — The  Ex-President’s  Compliment- 
ary Letter — Ravages  of  Yellow  Fevor — Noble  Action  of  Northern 
People — A new  Version  of  the  Capture  of  Davis — Beautiful  Home  at 
Beauvoir 493 

ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS.  Stephens  hears  Seward  Speak 
in  1854. — A Visit  to  Liberty  Hall — It  does  not  Belie  its  Name — “Re- 
tract, or  I’ll  Cut” — “Never  ! Cut” — Devotion  of  Former  Slaves  to 
“Mars  Aleck” — John  Quincy  Adams  writes  Verses  to  Stephens — 
The  latter  Opposes  the  War,  then  follows  his  State — Becomes  Vice- 
President  of  Confederacy — Negro  not  equal  to  White  Man — Illinois 
“ All  Noise  ” — Speech  on  Carpenter’s  Picture — His  Death  while  Gov- 
ernor of  Georgia — Eloquent  Tribute  to  His  Memory 500 

THURLOW  WEED.  Albany  Evening  Journal  Fifty  Years  ago 
A Modern  Warwick — Wiley  & Putnam’s  London  House — Thurlow 


CONTENTS, 


15 


Weed’s  Autobiography — Walking  Barefoot  through  the  Sno*7 — Ad- 
vocates School  Libraries — Paulding  and  the  Dutchman’s  Fireside — 
Thurlow  Weed  writes  a novel — Fenimore  Cooper  gets  a Verdict — 
Noble  Charity  to  Edwin  Croswall — Thurlow  Weed  Barnes’  Final  Me- 
moir Thurlow  Weed  and  Abraham  Lincoln 506 

LEE  AND  -SHEPARD.  A well  known  and  popular  Firm — 
William  Lee  as  Clerk  and  Partner — He  Sells  out  for  $65,000 — John 
P.  Jewett  and  “ Charlie”  Shepard — Lee  and  Shepard  become  Part- 
ners— Anecdote  of  Emerson — “ I am  waiting  for  the  inspiration  ” — 
“ Mrs.  Emerson  wants  some  Money  to-day  Phillips  Sampson  & Co. 
decline  “Uncle Tom  ” — Mrs.  Stowe  writes  “ Dred”  and  takes  a Glass 
of  Wine — The  Origin  of  the  “ Atlantic  Monthly” — Prescott,  the  His- 
torian, changes  Publishers — Underwood  as  an  Author — President 
Wayland  finds  a Publisher — “Oliver  Optic’s”  popularity — Lee, 
Shepard  & Dillingham 517 

ELIZABETH  CLEMENTINE  KINNEY.  Mother  of  Stedman 
the  Poet — Marries  an  Ambassador  to  Italy — The  centre  of  Literary 
Society — Griswold’s  Tribute  to  her  Genius — She  spends  a day  with 
the  Brownings — Browning’s  Romantic  Marriage — Beautiful  Tribute 
from  her  Son 526 


EDMUND  CLARENCE  STEDMAN.  The  Poet  as  a Lad— Re- 
lated to  Distinguished  Authors — Famous  Yale  Class  of  ’53 — Seeks  his 
Fortune  in  New  York — Wakes  up  to  find  himself  Famous — Old 
January  and  Young  May — Challenged  to  fight  a Duel — Romantic 
ending  of  Diamond  Wedding — Ballad  of  Lager  Bier — How  old 
Brown  took  Harper’s  Ferry — First  meets  Bayard  Taylor  and  Stod- 
dard— Wall  Street’s  place  in  Poetry — New  Literary  Enterprise. . .530 


FREDERICK  S.  COZZENS.  Pleasant  Memoirs— Irving,  Hal- 
leck  and  Thackeray — The  Sparrowgrass  Papers — The  Horse  that  had 
the  Heaves — Richard  Hayward  and  his  Friends — Irving’s  opinion  of 
Sparrowgrass — “It  Drops  from  him  like  Whiskey” — Thackeray  at 
the  Century  Club — “The  Song  that  Martin  Luther  Sung  ” — Washing- 
ton and  Astor’s  Spectacles — “Please  give  me  some  Gapes” — Hal- 
leck’s  opinion  of  Cozzens — “ To  my  big  Sweetheart  ” — “ But  the  Bit- 
ter keeps  on  and  on” 538 


ELIZABETH  OAKES  SMITH.  Literary  Celebrities  Forty  Years 
Ago — “ The  Sinless  Child  ” — Charles  Fenno  Hoffman — Edgar  Allan 
Poe’s  Criticisms — “Gentle  she  was  and  full  of  Love” — Poe  Talks 
about  the  “Raven” — A Love-letter  to  the  Poet — Mrs.  Smith  as  an 
Author — Tribute  from  George  D.  Prentice 545 


ABRAHAM  HART.  Popular  Publisher  of  Standard  Works 
Books — A Clerk  at  Thirteen — A.  Partner  at  Eighteen — A stage-coach 
full  of  Books — Triumph  over  Harpers — Fenimore  Cooper  makes  a 
failure — David  Crockett  “ Fodder,  or  no  fodder” — Crockett’s  Adven* 


16 


CONTENTS. 


tures  in  Texas — Captain  Marryat  makes  a failure — Fanny  Kemble’s 
Portrait  on  a finger-nail — Longfellow  collects  copyright  promptly — 
Griswold  and  his  poetical  volumes — Grand  Dinner  to  Abraham  Hart, 
Washington  Irving  and  Moses  Thomas — Abraham  Hart’s  quiet 
Retirement 550 

HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD.  Becomes  Partner  at  Twenty — Earliest 
Publisher  of  technical  books — A Student  of  Political  Economy — 
Fenimore  Cooper — Dr.  Francis  Lieber — “No  Right  without  its 
Duty” — “No  Duty*  without  its  Right” — Baird  meets  William 
Wordsworth — Copyright  Laws  a bundle  of  Absurdities 558 

MARION  HARLAND.  A call  from  the  Father  of  the  Author — 
“ Marion  Harland  ” a young  Virginian — Enormous  sale  of  “ Alone  ” — • 
“ The  Hidden  Path,”  another  success — Tribute  of  Anna  Cora 
Ritchie — A big  fire  and  an  Author’s  loss — “Common  sense  in  the 
Household  ” — What  one  Publisher  gains  another  loses — Copyright  of 
one  book,  and  Governor’s  salary — A Christmas  visit  to  Richmond — 
Letter  from  Marion  Harland  to  her  first  Publisher  5G8 

MIRIAM  COLES  HARRIS.  How  Manuscripts  should  come  to 
Publishers — Rejected  by  one  House,  Accepted  by  Another — A Heroine 
without  a Name — “Rutledge”  an  instantaneous  Success — Attributed 
to  many  Authors — Her  Portrait  in  “ Vanity  Fair  ” — Mrs.  Harris  a suc- 
cessful Writer 568 

MARY  J.  HOLMES.  Immense  Sale  of  her  Novels — Large  Sums 
received  in  Copyright — A Precocious  Writer — Early  Marriage  and 
Literary  Success — Income  from  Authorship,  Ten  Thousand  a Year — 
Why  so  Popular  an  Author — Like  Topsy,  “She  growed  so” — The 
Author’s  Elegant  Home — Beautiful  Tribute  from  her  Pastor 571 

ALFRED  S.  BARNES.  Friendship  of  Half  a Century — Singular 
Coincidences — Young  Barnes  finds  a New  Home — Begins  his  Book 
Career — Professor  Charles  Davies — Becomes  a School-Book  Can- 
vasser— Afterwards  a Large  Publisher — His  Motto — “ Good  Books 
Only  ” — A Successful  Book  House — Retires  from  Active  Business — A 
Silver  Wedding 575 

CHARLES  S.  FRANCIS.  A Book  Publisher  Eighty  years  old— 
A famous  Boston  house — Shakespeare  Works  and  “ Mother  Goose  ” 
— De  Witt  Clinton,  Aaron  Burr  and  Audubon — A thousand-dollar 
publication — Southern  planters  buy  expensive  books — “ A new  home, 
who’ll  follow A notable  Bookseller’s  Festival — “I  say,  Mister,  I 
guess  you’re  stuck  !” — Washington  Irving’s  famous  Speech — Mr. 
Francis  gives  a Toast.  580 

J.  S.  REDFIELD.  Another  Veteran  of  the  Book  Trade — 
William  Gilmore  Simms  and  his  Romances — Rufus  W.  Griswold’s 
friendly  aid  to  Authors — Edgar  Allan  Poe  finds  a Publisher—  Red- 


CONTENTS. 


17 


field’s  defense  of  Griswold — “Give  these  young  Scriblers  Jesse” — 
Poe  tells  how  he  wrote  the  “Raven” — “You  have  more  Brass  in 
New  York  than  we  in  Philadelphia  ” 585 

DANIEL  BIXBY.  A Publisher  can  keep  a Hotel — A famous 
literary  Resort — Fenimore  Cooper’s  city  Home — Fitz  Greene  Hal- 
leck,  and  the  Astors — Interesting  Letter  to  Bixby — He  meets  Lon- 
don Celebrities — “ You  see  him  before  you  now” — Bixby’s  Retire- 
ment   590 

RICHARD  HENRY  STODDARD.  Mary  Russell  Mitford’s  Trib- 
ute— Writes  for  Jack  Downing’s  “ Rover  ” — Finds  a Friend  in  N.  P. 
Willis — Meets  a Friend  in  Bayard  Taylor — “ 1 am  he” — “ My  name 
is  Stoddard  ” — Stoddard  receives  his  first  Ten  Dollars — Prints  a Book 
and  sells  two  Copies — Baron  Humboldt  and  Bayard  Taylor — Loves 
and  Heroines  of  the  Poets — Oliver  B.  Bunce  and  “ Don’t  ” — Wittiest 
Woman  in  America — Distinguished  Compliment  from  Bryant — The 
Wife  of  a Poet 595 

REV.  S.  IRENEUS  PRIME,  D.D.  Five  Generations  of  a Book- 
Making  Family — An  Author  who  never  sought  a Publisher — Author- 
ized Life  of  Professor  Morse — Dr.  Prime  on  his  Travels — A thousand 
a year  from  Harpers — How  a Profound  Secret  is  Kept — Printing  Of- 
fice Destroyed  by  fire — Narrow  Escape  of  the  Editors — Quick  Writ- 
ing and  Quick  Printing 604 

REV.  HENRY  MARTYN  FIELD,  D.D.  The  Observer  and  the 
Evangelist — Early  Life  of  Dr.  Field — First  Visit  Abroad — Is  a Wit- 
ness of  the  French  Revolution  of  1848 — “ Letters  from  Rome  ” — Be- 
comes an  Editor  in  New  York  “ History  of  the  Atlantic  Telegraph” 
and  other  Books — Becomes  a Great  Traveller — Journey  round  the 
World — Publishes  “From  the  Lakes  of  Killarney  to  the  Golden 
Horn  ” — “ From  Egypt  to  Japan  ” — “ On  the  Desert,”  and  “ Among 
the  Holy  Hills.” 610 

WILLIAM  D.  TICKNOR.  A Publisher  half  a Century  Ago — 
Begins  to  issue  Belles-lettres  Books — Pays  Tennyson  the  first  Copy- 
right— Manufacturing  and  Financial  Partner — Intimate  Relations 
with  Hawthorne — “The  Life  of  Franklin  Pierce,  I believe  ” — Haw- 
thorne’s Travelling  Companions — The  “ Old  Corner  Book-Store.  ”.616 

JAMES  T.  FIELDS.  The  Author’s  Friend,  the  Poet  Publisher 
— Literary  Landmark  of  Boston — “ This  is  the  new  Sensation  book  ” 
— Young  Field’s  early  literary  Habits — E.  P.  Whipple’s  interesting 
Reminiscences — “ A few  Verses  for  a few  Friends” — Literary  Circles 
thirty  years  ago — Letters  to  Miss  Mitford — Retires  from  publishing 
Books — Successful  career  as  a Lecturer — Death,  and  tributes  to  his 
Memory  Memories  of  George  William  Curtis 619 

SOME  WASHINGTON  FRIENDS.  Hawthorne’s  early  Friend 
— How  “Twice-Told  Tales”  was  published — “We  were  lads  to- 

2 


18 


CONTENTS. 


gether  ” — “ Journal  of  an  African  Cruiser” — Hawthorne’s  1 St  Visit 
to  Washington — Interesting  letter  from  Commodore  Bridge — What 
I saw  in  London — First  Life  of  General  Pierce — Hawthorne  writes 
another — On  the  Ocean  with  Beecher  and  Chapin — Beecher  sea-skk 
but  “ Always  abounding  ” — Secretary  of  Chinese  Embassy — Chilton’s 
Author  and  Artist  Friends  — Anecdote  of  Thackeray — “Knick 
Knacks  from  the  Editor’s  Table  ” — Shelley’s  Widow  in  love  with 
Irving — Amusing  Anecdote  of  Elliott — The  progress  of  half  a Cent- 
ury— Interesting  letter  from  Frances  E.  Spinner — How  an  old  Court 
was  abolished  and  a new  one  Created — “A  woman’s  Letter  from 
Washington  ” — Mary  Clemmer  and  Charles  Sumner — A Novelist  and 
a Poet — Death  of  Mary  Clemmer  Hudson — The  Librarian  of  Con- 
gress— Spod'ord’s  long  Experience — The  right  Man  in  the  right 
Place 630 

NEW  YORK  VETERANS  OF  THE  BOOK  TRADE.  A Pat- 
riarch among  Publishers — A School-teacher  turns  Bookseller — Cheap- 
est book  ever  Published — Pluck  and  Enterprise  Successful — Books 
for  Sunday  School  Libraries — Peter  Carter  and  Scotia’s  Bards — Ran- 
dolph’s Letter  to  Irenseus — A Favorite  Bookstore  for  New  Yorkers — 
Two  Donkeys  for  Motive  Power — Randolph  a Good  Talker — “ What 
an  Old  Fellow  You  Are  I” — Van  Nostrand’s  Military  Books — Impor- 
tant Engineering  Works — A Monarch  in  his  Chosen  Field — A fam- 
ous Law-Book  House — Favorite  resort  of  brilliant  Lawyers — A book 
Clerk  leaves  the  printing  trade  Agreeable  relations  with  Authors — 
An  historical  Book  House — The  record  of  many  Firms — “ In  print 
or  out  of  print  ” — Oldest  Book  Printer  in  America — Trow’s  City  Di- 
rectory— Made  University  Printer — John  Keese,  the  Witty  Auction- 
eer— Fried,  Roasted  and  Stewed — Charles  Collins  continues  Busi- 
ness alone 649 

JAMES  R.  RANDALL.  The  Author  of  “My  Maryland ” — A 
Reconstructed  Rebel — “ I see  Thee  ever  in  my  Dreams” — Massa- 
chusetts Troops  through  Baltimore — A Famous  Poem  in  Half  an 
Horn- — One  Hundred  Dollars  in  Confederate  Money — He  heard  it 
sung  by  a Russian  Girl — An  incident  at  Arlington 661 

MARY  ASHLEY  TOWNSEND.  “ The  Most  Brilliant  Woman 
in  New  Orleans  ” — An  Author  meets  Her  First  Publisher—"  XarifEa” 
and  the  “ Captain’s  Story  ” — “ And  You  Should  Kiss  My  Eyelids  ” — 
Down  the  Bayou  and  other  Poems 667 

LITTLE,  BROWN  & CO.  Oldest  book  house  in  Boston — 
Augustus  Flagg  becomes  a Partner — Death  of  James  Brown — “ The 
Business  he  loved  so  well  ” — Hillard’s  Memoir  of  Brown — Mr.  Flagg 
assumes  Control — Active  Career  for  quarter  of  a Century — Anecdote 
of  Charles  Sampson — Important  Publications  of  the  house — Russell 
of  Charleston,  and  Berry  of  Nashville — Anecdotes  of  Story  and 
Kent — “ And  then  look  out  for  thunder  !” — Choate  not  to  be  dunned 
for  3,000  years — Augustus  Flagg  retires  from  Business 670 

JOHN  BIGELOW.  The  Pathfinder  to  the  Rocky  Mountains — 
Charles  A.  Dana  Protests — Bigelow  has  his  Way — Both  friends  of 


CONTENTS. 


19 


Tilden — United  States  Minister  to  France — Extraordinary  Discovery 
of  Franklin’s  MSS. — Bigelow  Edits  Franklin’s  Autobiography — 
Friendly  Advice  to  the  Author 676 

PARKE  GODWIN.  Interesting  History  of  France — George 
Ripley's  Literary  Tribute — “ Out  of  the  Past  ” — Fine  Sonnet  to  James 
T.  Fields .'...681 

GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS.  The  Howadji  calls  on  Harper 
& Brothers — “ Stop,  Young  Man,  don’t  be  in  such  a Hurry” — Lotus- 
Eating  and  Kensett — The  humorous  Potiphar  Papers — The  Lovely 
Young  Maiden  “ Prue  ” — Editor-in-Chief  of  Harper’s  Weekly — 
Author,  Journalist,  Statesman  and  Orator 683 

BENSON  J.  LOSSING.  A “Pictorial  Author”— The  Field- 
Book  of  the  Revolution — General  Putnam  chased  by  British 
Troopers — Artistic  and  literary  Life — Anecdote  of  Daniel  Appleton — 
Contracts  with  George  W.  Childs — General  Robert  E.  Lee  and  wife — 
Lossing’s  History  of  New  York  City 686 

MIRIAM  FLORENCE  LESLIE  (Frank  Leslie).  “From 

Gotham  to  the  Golden  Gate  ” — The  Founder  of  Illustrated  Journal- 
ism— Commodore  Vanderbilt  and  Saratoga  Lake — “ Go  to  my  Office 
and  sit  in  my  place  ” — “ I hear  you  want  a good  deal  of  Money  ” — A 
fifty  thousand  dollar  Friend  in  time  of  need — Excitement  caused  by 
Garfield’s  Death — A Brave  Woman  and  the  Printer’s  Strike — Rev. 
Dr.  Deems  and  Rev.  Dr.  Talmadge — Thomas  Nast  and  Jos.  Keppler 
Employed  by  Leslie — A Woman’s  capacity  for  Business 692 

WILLIAM  A.  HAMMOND,  M.  D.  An  eminent  Surgeon  in  a 
new  Role — “Knows  how  to  tell  a Story” — Suppresses  his  first 
Novel — Great  Book  on  Nervous  Diseases — Dismissed  as  Surgeon- 
General — Restored  to  Office  by  Act  of  Congress — “ The  best  Friend 
the  Soldier  had” — “ A long-delayed  but  complete  Triumph.” 697 

FRANK  VINCENT,  JR.  The  Land  of  the  White  Elephant— 
Nehemiah  Adams  and  the  “Golden  Fleece” — One  Hundred  and 
Fifty  Thousand  Miles  of  Travels — “ As  many  Burmese  Wives  as  I 
wanted” — “ Through  and  through  the  Tropics” — Wonderful  ruins 
of  Cambodia — “New  York  the  best  place  of  all.” 701 

ROSWELL  SMITH— THE  CENTURY  CO.  One  of  the  pro- 
jectors of  the  “ Century  ” — Bold  enterprise  in  the  publishing  business 
— “ What  hath  God  Wrought  !” — Dr.  Holland  an  experienced  Jour- 
nalist— Great  Success  of  the  “ Century  ” — Sport  with  Gun  and  Rod 
— President,  Secretary,  Treasurer  and  Editors .704 

SOME  GENERALS  WHO  BECAME  AUTHORS.  The  hero  of 
Lundy’s  Lane — Author  calls  on  the  Lieutenant  General — “ How  do 
you  spell  it,  sir  ?”  Interesting  Letter  to  Thurlow  Weed  Sherman’s 


20 


CONTENTS. 


Army  marching  into  Washington — The  General  salutes  Secretary 
Seward — Sherman’s  “Memoirs  written  by  himself” — General  Joe 
Johnston  a modest  Historian — Interesting  letter  from  General  Sher- 
man— “Military  Operations  of  General  Beauregard  ” — An  “ Indepen- 
dent ” opinion  of  the  book — Editor  of  the  Evangelist  interviews  Gen- 
eral Beauregard — “Oh,  yes — I ’ear  of  Li— I spek  of  ’im  to  Bo’rgar” 
An  interesting  Biography — Rev.  D.  X.  Junkin,  D.D. — A Presiden- 
tial Candidate — “ The  Democrats  have  made  no  Mistake  this  time  ” 
— The  Battle  of  Gettysburgh — “Trust  in  God  and  fear  noth- 
ing.”  709 

CONCLUSION.  My  Publisher’s  Reminder — T.  S.  Arthur — Anna 
C.  Botta — Laura  C.  Holloway — Rossiter  Johnson — Richard  B.  Kim- 
ball— Albert  Mathews — O.  J.  Victor — Metta  Victoria  Victor — Pro- 
fessor O.  W.  Wight — Emma  De  Long — Barry  Gray — Curtis  Guild — 
Jane  Crawford  Campbell — Ann  S.  Stephens — A.  S.  Roe — John  Sav- 
age— Charles  Nordhoff — General  A.  S.  Webb — Margaret  J.  Preston 
— Madame  A . de  Chaudron — Maria  Darrington  Deslonde — Mary  E. 
Bryan — Henry  Watterson — R.  M.  Johnston — Madame  Le  Vert — A. 
J.  Requier — H.  L.  Flash — Paul  H.  Hay ne— Gail  Hamilton 719 


INTRODUCTORY. 


A Boole,  Cleric  at  Fifteen — Why  and  How  this  Volume 
was  Written — Early  Business  Career — Becomes  a 
Book  Publisher — Origin  of  Bancroft's  California 
Bookstore — Author's  Removal  to  New  York — Con- 
tinues a successful  Book  Publisher — The  Book  Pub- 
lisher's Festival — United  States  Agent  for  Paris  Ex- 
position— The  Century  Club — Commodore  Vander- 
bilt's Steamship  — William  Orton  and  other  Friends. 


N the  10th  of  September,  1883,  occurred  the  fiftieth 


anniversary  of  the  day  on  which  I was  apprenticed  to 
the  bookselling  business.  Fifty  years  before,  I had  entered 
the  bookstore  of  H.  Ivison  & Co.,  of  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  to 
learn  the  business,  for  which  I had  a natural  liking  and  in 
which  I have  been  engaged  to  the  present  time.. 

It  had  been  my  purpose,  at  the  suggestion  of  my  chil- 
dren, to  collect  and  place  in  order  the  numerous  data  and 
memoranda  accumulated  during  my  long  and  not  unevent- 
ful life  in  the  book  world,  that  they  would  have  what 
gratification  and  possible  aid,  my  experience,  through  two 
busy  generations  might  afford.  My  plan  was  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  perfection  attained  in  stenography  and  by 
the  use  of  the  type-writer  give  each  of  my  children  a copy 
of  my  reminiscences. 

In  the  progress  of  my  labor  of  love  I submitted  my 
manuscript  to  some  of  my  most  intimate  friends,  who  in- 
sisted on  a multiplication  of  copies  beyond  the  prov- 
ince of  the  active  type-writer.  Added  to  this,  my  friend 
Carleton  became  so  interested  in  the  matter  that  he  begged 
that  he  might  publish  the  work  in  book  form,  and  the 


[21] 


22 


INTRODUCTORY. 


result  is  the  issue  of  this  volume  of  my  Recollections  and 
Experiences.  Thus  an  old  Publisher  makes  his  maiden 
bow  to  the  public  as  an  Author  ! 

Auburn,  as  I recollect  it,  was  an  incorporated  village 
of  about  five  thousand  inhabitants,  and  the  bookstores 
consequently  were  not  on  a very  large  scale.  Our  store 
was  well  appointed,  with  a fair  assortment  of  miscel- 
laneous books  and  stationery,  to  which  was  added  a book- 
bindery  in  the  rear. 

Although  it  was  originally  intended  that  I should  also 
learn  the  bookbinder’s  trade,  my  employer  soon  ascer- 
tained that  I “couldn’t  bind  worth  a cent,”  but  was  better 
adapted  to  wait  on  customers  in  the  store — to  sell  books 
rather  than  to  bind  them.  About  four  months  later  he 
wrote  my  mother  as  follows  : 


“Auburn,  Jan.  4th,  1834. 

“ To  Mrs.  Derby  : 

“Your  son  James  has  been  with  us  a sufficient  length  of  time, 
for  him  to  determine  whether  he  will  be  satisfied  with  the  book 
business,  and  whether  he  will  be  sufficiently  fond  of  it  to  warrant 
him  in  pursuing  it.  We  are  of  opinion  that  if  a boy  is  attached 
to  his  business  he  will  invariably  succeed,  provided  he  has  health 
and  opportunities;  if  he  is  indifferent  he  never  will  succeed.  As 
far  as  I have  conversed  with  James  he  appears  to  think  that  he 
will  be  satisfied,  and  I am  happy  in  saying  that  I have  no  cause 
for  complaint  in  relation  to  him.  With  exertions  which  he  has 
it  in  his  power  to  make,  he  bids  fair  to  become  a useful  man.  It 
remains  for  you  to  determine  whether  he  will  still  continue  with 
us.  We  can  arrange  hereafter  in  relation  to  the  terms.* 

“ Respectfully, 

“ H.  Ivison  & Co.” 


* Fifty  years  later  Mr.  Ivison  writes  me  as  follows  : 

“ 12  West  48th  Street,  New  York,  Jan.  16,  1884. 

“Dear  James  : 

“I  return  the  letters  and  papers  much  as  you  left  them.  You 
see  I do  not  improve  in  my  handwriting;  that  of  yours  is  ex- 
cellent. I wish  you  every  success  with  your  enterprise. 

“Yours,  H.  Ivison.” 


INTRODUCTORY. 


23 


My  mother  called  without  delay  and  closed  the  con- 
tract with  Mr.  Ivison,  which  was  that  I should  devote  my- 
self during  business  hours  to  their  interests,  and  receive  a 
salary  of  fifty  dollars  per  annum,  including  board  in  my 
employer’s  family.  Business  hours  in  those  days  included 
all  the  hours  from  7 a.m.  until  9 o’clock  in  the  evening. 

The  bookstores  were  the  natural  resorts  for  the  intelli- 
gent class  of  the  community,  who  usually  met  there  to  dis- 
cuss the  topics  of  the  day  or  to  learn  of  what  was  new  in 
the  book  world,  and  among  those  who  frequented  our  store 
were  the  professors  and  students  of  the  Auburn  Theologi- 
cal Seminary,  who  were  good  patrons  as  well.  The  books 
most  in  demand  besides  theological  and  school  books 
were  the  then  famous  Waverly  novels  and  the  works  of 
Fenimore  Cooper  and  Washington  Irving. 

After  four  years*  experience  in  the  bookselling  business 
Mr.  Ivison  associated  with  himself  a partner,  from  Conn., 
who  very  soon  made  it  anything  but  agreeable  for  me  to  re- 
main with  the  new  firm.  My  experience,  however,  soon  gave 
me  employment  in  the  rival  bookstore,  then  carried  on  by 
the  Hon.  Ulysses  F.  Doubleday,  a prominent  politician  who 
had  been  twice  elected  to  Congress  from  the  Auburn  district. 

On  leaving  my  first  employer,  I received  the  following  : 

“ To  all  whom  it  may  concern. 

“ The  bearer  of  this  letter,  James  C.  Derby,  has  been  in  my 
employ  as  a clerk  during  the  last  four  years  and  I can  cheerfully 
recommend  him  as  a young  man,  honest  and  industrious,  of  good 
moral  character  and  habits  and  of  sound  principles.  I have  al- 
ways found  him  trustworthy,  and  consider  him  as  being  possessed 
of  fair  business  talents  and  as  being  a good  salesman. 

“ II.  Ivison,  Jr. 

“Auburn,  Nov.  28,  1837.” 

I remained  with  Mr.  Doubleday  about  one  year,  when 
Mr.  Ivison  invited  me  to  return  to  my  “ first  love/*  he 
having  severed  his  partnership  with  the  gentleman  from 


24 


INTRODUCTORY. 


Connecticut.  My  year  with  Mr.  Doubleday  was  very 
pleasant,  and,  I believe,  profitable  to  both  parties.  One  of 
my  daily  companions  was  his  son  Abner,  then  preparing 
for  the  West  Point  Military  Academy,  from  which  he  grad- 
uated with  honor  a few  years  later.* 

On  leaving  Mr.  Doubleday  (who  soon  after  retired  from 
the  bookselling  business),  he  gave  me  the  following  letter  : 

“Auburn,  August  31,  1838. 

“ This  may  certify  that  Mr.  James  C.  Derby  has  been  employed 
as  a clerk  in  my  bookstore  for  the  past  year,  and  by  his  activity, 
zeal  and  attention  to  my  interests,  has  merited  my  highest  appro- 
bation. He  re-enters  the  employment  of  H.  Ivison  inconsequence 
of  my  discontinuance  of  business. 

“ U.  F.  Doubleday.” 

After  my  re-engagement  with  Mr.  Ivison,  he  placed  me 
in  full  charge  of  the  bookstore,  he  devoting  a large  portion 
of  his  time  to  the  book  bindery,  now  grown  to  large  propor- 
tions. In  the  year  1838  I was  deputed  by  my  employer  to 
visit  the  East  to  purchase  fresh  supplies  of  stock.  This 
was  no  small  undertaking,  as  the  journey  had  to  be  made 
by  stage  coach,  there  being,  in  those  days,  no  railroads. 
It  took  about  three  days  to  reach  New  York  city,  and 
having  no  experience  whatever  in  this  new  undertaking 
Mr.  Ivison  placed  me  in  charge  of  Edward  Bright,  then 
of  the  firm  of  Bennett  & Bright,  booksellers,  Utica,  N.  Y., 
under  whose  guidance  and  in  whose  company  I proceeded 
on  this,  my  first  visit  to  the  Metropolis. 

Mr.  Bright  subsequently  retired  from  the  book  business, 
to  enter  the  ministry.  He  removed  soon  after  to  New  York, 


* Captain  Doubleday  afterwards  became  famous  as  one  of  the 
heroic  defenders  of  Fort  Sumter,  under  Major  Robert  Anderson, 
and  still  later  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major-general  for 
bravely  leading  the  Union  column  at  Gettysburg  after  General  Rey- 
nolds was  killed  and  Generals  Hancock  and  Sickles  were  wounded. 
General  Doubleday  published  through  Harper  & Brothers,  in 
1876,  his  “Reminiscences  of  Fort  Sumter  in  1861.” 


INTRODUCTORY. 


25 


where  he  became  the  editor  of  the  Examiner,  a religious 
weekly  of  large  influence,  which  position  he  has  filled  with 
ability  and  great  credit  to  himself  and  honor  to  the  influ* 
ential  religious  denomination  which  his  journal  represents. 

The  following  note  is  a reminder  of  half  a century  ago  : 

“New  York,  January  22,  1884. 

“ My  dear  Mr.  Derby: — I was  in  the  book  business  in  Utica 
as  one  of  the  firm  of  Bennett  & Bright  about  ten  years.  I have  a 
distinct  recollection  of  our  coming  to  New  York  together  within 
those  ten  years,  but  I don’t  believe  I have  half  so  vivid  a recollec- 
tion of  the  incidents  of  the  trip  as  you  have.  I know  I thought 
you  to  be  a very  clever  young  man,  and  you  have  since  proved  in 
many  ways  that  my  impressions  were  right. 

“Very  truly  yours, 

“Edward  Bright.” 

My  trip  to  New  York  and  Philadelphia  was  a memor- 
able one  to  me.  In  those  two  cities  I first  met  with  most 
of  the  noted  publishers  of  whom  I speak  further  on. 

I remained  with  Mr.  Ivison  as  managing  clerk  until 
July  1840,  when  a good  opening  for  another  bookstore  oc- 
curred at  Auburn,  and  Mr.  Ivison  contributing  sufficient 
capital  as  special  partner,  the  firm  of  J.  0.  Derby  & Co. 
was  formed.  I find  among  the  letters  written  to  my  mother 
at  that  time  the  following,  dated  August  6th,  1840. 

“ I have  at  last  succeeded  in  getting  into  business  under  the 
name  and  firm  of  J.  C.  Derby  & Co.,  at  the  old  stand  of  U.  F. 
Doubleday,  and  have  opened  with  an  entire  new  stock  purchased 
in  New  York  in  July.  My  partner  is  H.  Ivison,  Jr.,  and  our 
partnership  is  to  continue  for  five  years  and  two  months.  I have 
gone  into  business  there  under  very  favorable  auspices,  yet,  not- 
withstanding if  brother  Henry  had  arrived  a month  earlier  Ishould 
have  gone  to  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  started  there.  I never  knew 
before  that  there  was  so  fine  an  opening  for  a store  as  there  ap- 
pears to  be  at  the  Ohio  capital,  and  I only  regret  that  I was  not 
sooner  apprised  of  the  fact.  I am  tied  here  now,  and  there  is 
nothing  to  be  gained  in  complaining,  and  how  uncharitable  would  I 
be,  with  my  own  good  luck,  to  complain !” 


26 


INTRODUCTORY. 


My  book  business  was  successful  from  the  start,  and 
continued  so  until  my  removal  to  New  York  thirteen  years 
later.  My  two  brothers  soon  followed  me  in  the  same  line, 
having  been  trained  mostly  by  myself  in  the  methods  of 
buying  and  selling  books. 

The  following  letter,  written  by  my  mother  in  1844, 
was  published  in  one  of  the  religious  papers  at  the 
time. 

A Mother’s  advice  to  her  Children — booksellers— on  the 

PURCHASING  AND  VENDING  PERNICIOUS  BOOKS. 

“As  you  are  soon  going  on  your  accustomed  journey,  I will 
ask  you  once  more  to  consider  my  plea  regarding  the  policy  and 
character  of  some  portion  of  your  business.  The  selecting  of 
books  for  a reading  community  is  a peculiar  responsibility;  and  if 
the  matter  therein  contained  be  good  in  its  wholesale  and  retail 
consequences,  it  will  rise  up  for  you,  if  bad,  against  you,  even 
here  in  this  partly  Christianized  America. 

“You  now  stand  upon  the  pivot  of  general  improvement  in  al- 
most everything,  and  it  is  your  special  province  to  go  forward  in 
this  particular  branch  of  progression,  provided  your  religious 
principles,  high  moral  character,  and  self-denial  be  such  as  should 
be  worthy  the  patronage  and  confidence  of  the  world,  and  more 
especially  your  own  conscience. 

“ Consider  now,  I pray  you,  and  take  the  choice  whether  you 
will  be  men  who  greatly  improve  and  exalt  the  moral  faculties  and 
unsubdued  hearts  of  this  intelligent  but  inconsistent  people,  whose 
God  and  kingdom  should  not  be  of  this  world — or  as  one  regard- 
less, principally  of  all  that  is,  has  been,  and  will  be  said,  but  who 
is  in  favor  of  many  good  operations,  and  help  to  sustain  and  en- 
courage orthodox  institutions,  yet  at  the  same  time  are  trafficking 
the  disgusting,  heart-sickening  literature  of  moral  corruption, 
which  of  its  own  inherent  nature,  undermines  more  or  less  the 
very  ground-work  of  those  blessed  institutions,  which  you  other- 
wise help  and  wish  to  have  supported,  and  which  are  our  own 
individual,  as  well  as  national  safety,  and  the  strength  and  hope 
of  perpetual  happiness — strange  contradiction!  And  is  this  all 
for  money?  Can  it  be?  Think  of  the  impolicy  and  sin  of  an  im- 
pure press  and  those  who  sustain  it! 

“ I intend  to  be  brief  but  plain,  and  how  can  I let  you  alone  as 


INTRODUCTORY. 


27 


long  as  a mother’s  blood  runs  in  my  veins,  and  my  heart  is  con- 
strained by  the  love  of  Christ  to  act  for  the  good  of  souls. 

“ The  mind  of  man  is  a soil  that  God  has  made  highly  produc- 
tive of  greatness  and  goodness  provided  it  is  beneath  the  refresh- 
ing showers  of  healthful  and  exulting  influences  ; and  it  is  your 
peculiar  privilege  to  administer,  in  the  books  you  put  into  their 

hands,  such  influences  to  fallen  and  rebeUious  man 

I would,  therefore,  have  you  come  out  on  the  right 

and  on  the  safe  side,  and  to  extend  your  usefulness,  make  your 
principles  publicly  known  and  your  reasons  for  them,  then  your 
names  may  be  written  in  letters  of  gold,  as  the  first  booksellers  re- 
solved to  put  nothing  but  that  which  is  good  and  healthful  upon 
your  shelves  and  counters. 

“Your  affectionate  mother, 

“ Lezetta  Derby.” 

We  were  not  unmindful  of  the  advice  of  our  mother,  and 
I can  confidently  say  that  in  the  long  and  varied  experi- 
ence of  my  brothers  and  myself,  not  a single  volume  lias 
ever  been  sold  of  a doubtful  moral  tendency. 

Early  in  the  year  1844,  my  first  publication  made  its 
appearance  in  a small  but  neat  volume  bearing  the  title 
“ Conference  Hymns,  with  Tunes,  adapted  to  Religious  Meet- 
ings for  Prayers.”  The  authors  were  Rev.  Josiali  Hopkins, 
I).  D.,  then  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  at 
Auburn,  and  Henry  Ivison,  Jr.,  who  about  that  time 
had  removed  to  New  York.  Mr.  Ivison  was  leader  of 
the  choir  in  the  church  of  which  Dr.  Hopkins  was  pas- 
tor. A single  copy  of  this  book  still  remains  in  my  pos- 
session. 

In  March,  1848,  Norman  C.  Miller,*  one  of  my  trusted 
clerks,  who  understood  very  thoroughly  all  the  details  in  the 
printing  and  binding  of  books,  was  made  a partner  in  my 
business. 

Up  to  the  year  1853  inclusive,  the  firm  of  Derby  & 


* Mr.  Miller  is  now  connected  with  the  extensive  New  York 
book-binderv  of  John  A.  Somerville,  whose  father,  the  late  James 
Somerville,  was  one  of  my  earliest  and  most  valued  friends. 


28 


INTRODUCTORY. 


Miller  had  printed  and  published  more  than  one  hundred 
different  books,  consisting  of  school  and  law  publications, 
standard  histories,  biographies,  and  miscellaneous  works 
of  a popular  nature,  among  them  were  the  “ Life  of  General 
Zachary  Taylor,”  prepared  for  us  by  Henry  Montgomery, 
editor  of  the  Auburn  Journal,  soon  after  the  General’s 
nomination  to  the  Presidency.  The  books  were  brought 
out  in  attractive  styles,  and  met  with  very  large  sales. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  for  forty  years — through 
ten  presidential  elections, — I have  published  or  had  charge 
of  the  publications  of  the  lives  of  one  or  more  of  the  several 
candidates  for  the  Presidency;  the  first.  General  Harrison 
in  1840,  and  the  last,  General  Hancock  in  1880. 

Another  successful  venture  was  the  publication  of  the 
“ Lives  of  Mary  and  Martha  Washington/’  by  Margaret 
C.  Conkling.  This  work  was  the  first  biographical  account 
of  the  mother  and  wife  of  George  Washington,  published 
in  book  form,  and  was  written  in  the  graceful  style,  which 
that  author  inherits. 

Miss  Conkling  was  also  the  author  of  a novel,  “Isabel, 
or  Trials  of  the  Heart,”  and  a translation  of  Florian’s 
“ History  of  the  Moors  of  Spain,”  both  works  having  been 
published  by  Harper  & Brothers,  the  latter  being  adopted 
into  their  School  District  Library  Series.  Miss  Conk- 
ling resided  near  Auburn  with  her  father,  Hon.  Alfred 
Conkling,  at  his  beautiful  residence,  Melrose,  overlooking 
the  placid  waters  of  Owasco  Lake.  He  was  at  that  time 
a judge  of  the  United  States  District  Court,  a position 
which  his  grandson,  Alfred  Conkling  Coxe,  now  holds-. 
Soon  after  the  succession  of  Millard  Fillmore  to  the  pre- 
sidency, Judge  Conkling  was  appointed  United  States 
Minister  to  Mexico.  He  was  one  of  my  earliest  patrons, 
and  a good  adviser  at  the  commencement  of  my  business 
career.  He  was  the  author  of  the  best  Admiralty  Practice 
known  to  the  courts.  His  son,  Eoscoe  Conkling,  was  then 
a youngster  residing  with  his  father,  bidding  fair  at  that 


INTRODUCTORY. 


29 


early  day  to  become  what  he  now  is,  an  eminent  statesman 
and  famous  lawyer. 

Another  successful  book  was  Seward's  “ Life  of  John 
Quincy  Adams,”  published  soon  after  the  death  of  Mr. 
Adams. 

Among  the  other  popular  publications  of  Derby  & Mil- 
ler which  reached  the  sale  of  forty  thousand  or  more  copies, 
may  be  mentioned  Headley’s  “ Life  of  the  Empress  Joseph- 
ine” the  ‘ 4 Life  of  Rev.  Andoniram  Judson,”  “ Lives  of 
the  three  Mrs.  Judsons,”  “Jenkins’  History  of  the  War 
with  Mexico  ” — and  last,  but  not  least,  “Fern  Leaves,”  by 
Fanny  Fern,  referred  to  elsewhere. 

Of  the  “Life  of  George  Washington,  by  Jared 
Sparks,  LL.  D.,”  a very  large  number  were  sold,  so  large 
that  a complimentary  letter  was  received  by  the  publishers 
from  that  eminent  historian. 

Among  the  important  law-books  published,  were 
the  “ New  Clerks’  Assistant,  or  Every  Man  his  own  Law- 
yer,” by  John  S.  Jenkins,  of  which  more  than  thirty  thou- 
sand copies  were  sold;  “The  General  Statutes  of  New 
York  with  notes  and  references  by  Samuel  Blatcliford, 
Esq.”  The  latter  was  a personal  and  political  friend, 
then  a practicing  lawyer  in  Auburn.  He  removed  his  large 
legal  business  to  New  York  a few  years  later. 

Upon  his  subsequent  advancement  to  his  present  eminent 
position,  as  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  I sent  him  a congratulatory  note,  to  which 
he  responded  as  follows  : 


“ New  York  City,  March  15th  1882. 

“My  dear  friend  Derby: 

“Nothing  could  be  more  acceptable  to  me  than  your  kind 
words.  Old  friends  and  old  wine  are  not  picked  up  in  a day. 
You  have  known  me  and  watched  me  for  nearly  forty  years,  and 
to  have  ‘ God  speed  ’ from  you,  is  to  have  true  gold. 

“Very  sincerely  yours, 

“Samuel  Blatchfoud.” 


30 


INTRODUCTORY. 


The  firm  of  Derby  & Miller  also  published  the  first  vol- 
ume of  “ Blatchford’s  United  States  Circuit  Court  Reports  ” 
— the  subsequent  volumes  of  which  have  been  published  by 
Baker,  Voorhis  & Co.  Another  important  law-book  was 
“ The  New  York  Civil  and  Criminal  Justice,”  edited  by  the 
late  Christopher  Morgan,  and  Clarence  A.  Seward,  Esq., 
who,  like  Mr.  Blatchford,  subsequently  removed  to  New 
York  city. 

Goodrich’s  “ History  of  all  Nations  ” an  account  of 
which  is  given  elsewhere,  was,  I believe,  the  first  subscrip- 
tion book  published  west  of  New  York  City. 

In  the  year  1847,  I was  nominated  by  a Whig  County 
Convention  and  elected — Treasurer  of  the  county  of  Cay- 
uga— the  first  Whig  ever  elected  to  that  office  in  that 
county.  On  the  same  ballot, — one  of  which  is  now  in  my 
possession — are  the  names  of  John  Young,  for  Governor, 
Hamilton  Fish,  for  Lieutenant  Governor,  Millard  Fillmore, 
fur  Comptroller,  and  Christopher  Morgan,  for  Secretary  of 
State.  It  was  the  latter’s  brother,  Colonel  Edwin  B.  Mor- 
gan, who  rescued  Charles  Sumner  from  the  cruel  attack  by 
Preston  Brooks  of  South  Carolina  ; Colonel  Morgan  was  a 
member  of  Congress  at  the  time  and  present  when  the 
assault  was  made. 

Edwin  B.  Morgan  was  one  of  my  most  valued  friends 
for  nearly  half  a century.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  he 
was  one  of  the  two  largest  owners  of  The  New  York  Times, 
being  one  of  its  founders.  He  was  highly  esteemed  as  a 
philanthropic  Christian  gentleman,  co-operating  with  the 
late  Wm.  E.  Dodge,  each  giving  $100,000  to  erect  a library 
building  for  the  Auburn  Theological  Seminary. 

Mr.  Fish  was  subsequently  elected  Governor  of  New 
York,  then  U.  S.  Senator,  and  afterwards  became  Secre- 
tary of  State  under  President  Grant.  He  has  thus  been 
crowned  with  the  highest  honors  in  the  gift  of  the  people, 
save  only  that  of  President  of  the  United  States.  Millard 
Fillmore  was  elected  Vice  President  on  the  ticket  with 


INTRODUCTORY. 


31 


General  Taylor,  the  following  year,  and  became  President 
on  the  death  of  the  latter  in  1850. 

Early  in  the  year  1852  when  the  gold  fever  excitement 
was  at  its  height  in  California,  my  brother  George,  then 
head  of  the  firm  of  G.  II.  Derby  & Co.,  in  the  hook-selling 
business  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  in  connection  with  myself,  at 
that  time  his  partner,  decided  to  start  a branch  book  and 
stationery  store  in  San  Francisco,  which  had  then  just 
emerged  from  scarcely  more  than  a Mexican  settlement  to  a 
thriving  young  city.  We  believing,  as  the  result  finally 
proved,  that  it  would  be  a profitable  undertaking,  it  was 
decided  to  stock  the  store  with  about  five  thousand  dollars 
worth  of  merchandise,  and  the  goods  were  duly  shipped,  by  a 
sailing  vessel,  around  Cape  Horn.  At  the  same  time  our 
firm  sent  to  San  Francisco  to  take  charge  of  the  business 
two  of  their  clerks,  Hubert  H.  Bancroft  and  George  L. 
Kenney,  both  of  whom  my  brother  had  trained  to  the  book 
business  in  Buffalo.  Before  the  goods  arrived  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, however,  the  young  men,  who  were  already  there,  re- 
ceived the  sad  news  of  the  unexpected  death  of  my  brother, 
of  cholera,  in  September  of  that  year.*  As  it  became 
necessary  to  settle  up  my  brother's  estate  with  dispatch, 
the  administrator  directed  an  immediate  sale  of  the  con- 
signment, the  avails  of  which  were  subsequently  sent 
to  Buffalo  to  my  brother's  family.  Young  Bancroft  and 
his  fellow  clerk  continued  business  in  San  Francisco,  on 
their  own  account,  in  a modest  way. 

In  1855  my  brother's  widow  determined  to  assist 
this  enterprise  and  carry  out  her  late  husband's  plan 
in  regard  to  the  founding  of  a book  and  stationery 
store  in  San  Francisco.  She  therefore  advanced  a loan 


* “He  possessed  all  the  requisite  elements  of  character,  both  in- 
tellectual and  moral,  and  was  also  a Christian  gentleman,  faithful 
in  all  t he  relations  of  life,  and  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him.  It 
is  believed  that  the  mother  of  the  Derby  Brothers  is  entitled  to 
much  credit  for  their  success  in  business.” — From  Blake’s  “Bio- 
graphical Dictionary.” 


32 


INTRODUCTORY. 


of  all  her  available  funds, — about  $10,000 — to  her  brother, 
Hubert  H.  Bancroft,  for  that  purpose.  He  came  east 
to  Buffalo  and  brought  with  him  to  New  York  a let- 
ter of  introduction  from  Mrs.  Derby  to  her  late  hus- 
band's friend  John  0.  Barnes,  at  that  time  of  the  firm 
of  Ames,  Herrick  & Barnes,  and  brother  of  A.  S.  Barnes 
the  "well  known  publisher.  Mr.  Barnes  took  a lively 
interest  in  young  Bancroft,  introducing  him  to  many 
of  the  old  publishing  houses  of  New  York,  who  at  once 
gave  him  all  the  business  credit  he  desired.  Thus  the  San 
Francisco  house  of  H.  H.  Bancroft  & Co.  was  started,  an 
immense  business  was  built  up,  and  Mr.  Bancroft,  in  a 
few  years,  found  himself  possessed  of  an  ample  fortune. 
The  book  and  stationery  store  and  publishing  house  of 
Bancroft  & Co.  is  to  day  the  most  extensive  establishment 
west  of  New  York,  and  has  a reputation  and  trade  in  the 
Old  World  which  rivals  that  of  the  largest  Eastern  houses. 

Giving  place  to  his  younger  brother  Albert  L.,  to  attend 
to  the  active  business  management  of  the  concern,  and  leav- 
ing in  the  firm  sufficient  capital,  Hubert  H.  Bancroft  was 
enabled  to  satisfy  a desire  for  foreign  travel,  intellectual 
culture  and  literary  fame,  the  outgrowth  of  which  was, 
after  twenty  years  of  persevering  research  and  hard  study, 
his  elaborate  “ History  of  the  Pacific  States  of  North 
America,"  now  in  the  course  of  publication. 

Young  Bancroft  early  saw  the  importance  of  preserving 
the  pre-historical  records  of  the  Pacific  States.  He  saw 
also  how  important  it  was  to  secure,  as  early  as  possible,  the 
material  for  a history  of  this  new  Empire,  as  there  were 
but  few  living  witnesses  who  knew  where  the  Mexican 
manuscripts  were  to  be  found.  He  began  to  purchase 
everything  that  could  be  found  pertaining  to  the  Pacific 
Slope,  Mexico,  and  Central  America.  In  this  way  he 
secured  over  ten  thousand  volumes,  purchasing  every  book, 
map  and  manuscript  printed  or  written  in  this  territory  or 
Empire  relating  to  it,  that  could  be  found  in  Mexico, 
Central  America,  or  in  the  Eastern  States,  even  visiting 


INTRODUCTORY. 


33 


Europe  several  times  in  search  of  needed  material.  He 
also  secured  from  the  pioneers  and  settlers  man}7  interest- 
ing reminiscences. 

Hubert  II.  Bancroft  came  to  my  brother  in  Buffalo  a 
Buckeye  boy  of  eighteen  years,  with  no  other  capital  than 
health,  perseverance,  industry  and  integrity;  and  although 
self-educated,  he  now  ranks  with  the  few  famous  histori- 
ans of  our  day.  He  has  erected  a fire-proof  building  for 
his  library  of  books  and  manuscripts  pertaining  to  Amer- 
ica, which  consists  of  over  36,000  volumes,  the  building 
and  books  costing  him  over  half  a million  dollars. 

In  the  early  part  of  my  clerkship  with  H.  Ivison  & Co.,  I 
became  seriously  ill  from  a severe  attack  of  fever,  so' ill, 
that  it  was  deemed  best  that  I should  be  removed  to  my 
mother’s  residence,  in  Moravia,  a quiet  village,  about  six- 
teen miles  from  Auburn.  Although  convalescent  I was 
unable  to  sit  upright,  so  I was  taken  in  a close  carriage, 
in  charge  of  a young  physician  who  conveyed  me  in 
safety  to  my  mother’s  care,  through  whose  careful  nurs- 
ing I soon  recovered,  and  returned  to  business.  A few 
years  later  that  same  physician  removed  to  Buffalo, 
where,  in  1852,  he,  in  connection  with  Dr.  Austin  Elint, 
attended  my  brother  George  in  his  last  illness — this  young 
physician  was  Frank  H.  Hamilton,  who  afterwards  with 
his  celebrated  collaborator,  removed  to  New  York  City, 
where  both  became  eminent  in  their  profession. 

The  assassination  of  President  Garfield,  and  his  long 
attendant  sufferings,  brought  this  eminent  surgeon  promi- 
nently before  the  nation,  and  Frank  Hastings  Hamilton, 
the  youthful  doctor  of  my  boyhood  days,  is  now  acknowl- 
edged one  of  the  most  celebrated  surgeons  in  this  country. 
He  is  the  author  of  several  valuable  medical  works,  the 
most  important  of  which  is,  a f<  Treatise  on  Fractures  and 
Dislocations,”  which  has  also  been  translated  and  pub- 
lished in  the  French  and  German  languages. 

In  the  month  of  December,  1853,  having  disposed  of 
my  interest  in  the  Auburn  store,  I established  myself  in 


34 


INTRODUCTORY. 


New  York  City  as  a publisher,  at  No.  8 Park  Place,  the 
late  George  P.  Putnam  occupying,  at  that  time,  an  adjoin- 
ing store. 

I received  a friendly  welcome  from  the  book  trade  and 
editorial  fraternity,  and  soon  had  an  abundant  supply  of 
manuscripts  from  authors  in  every  department  of  literature. 
I early  secured  as  a critical  reader,  the  late  George  Ripley, 
then  the  literary  editor  of  the  New  York  Tribune , who  was 
not  only  a good  judge  but  a safe  adviser  as  to  the  best  kind 
of  books  to  publish,  and  as  the  MSS.  multiplied  I engaged 
Thomas  Bailey  Aldrich,  as  an  assistant  reader. 

In  the  year  1855,  Edwin  Jackson,  who  had  been  brought 
up  to  the  book  publishing  business  in  the  establishment 
of  H.  and  E.  Phinney  of  Cooperstown, — then  famous  as 
publishers  of  Quarto  Bibles  and  school  books — became  my 
associate  in  business,  and  the  firm  of  Derby  & Jackson  was 
established. 

Derby  & Jackson,  had  a prosperous  career  until  1861, 
when  they  discontinued  business.  Their  list  of  publica- 
tions at  the  time  numbered  more  than  three  hundred  vol- 
umes, most  of  them  new  and  successful  books,  by  American 
authors,  who  afterwards  became  famous,  and  of  many  of 
whom  I give  an  account  elsewhere.  In  addition  to  these 
original  authors,  we  were  the  publishers  of  the  works  of 
Joseph  Addison,  Oliver  Goldsmith,  Henry  Fielding,  Tobias 
Smollett,  Laurence  Sterne,  Dean  Swift,  Samuel  Johnson, 
Daniel  De  Eoe,  Charles  Lamb,  William  Hazlitt,  Thomas 
Hood,  Leigh  Hunt,  Captain  Marrvat,  Jane  Austen,  Char- 
lotte Bronte,  Hannah  More,  Jane  Porter,  Ann  Radcliff®, 
Francis  Burney,  Lord  Chesterfield,  Madam  de  Stael,  Mon- 
taigne, La  Fontaine,  Chateaubriand,  Pascal,  Fenelon,  and 
other  standard  classics,  in  all  over  two  hundred  volumes, 
issued  in  uniform  library  editions,  in  fine  bindings,  which 
soon  became  well  known  in  the  book  world. 

The  most  delightful  occasion  which  I can  recall  in  my 
publishing  career  is  that  of  the  complimentary  fruit  and 
flower  festival,  given  to  authors  by  the  New  York  book 


INTRODUCTORY. 


35 


publishers,  in  September,  1855.  The  gathering  took  place 
at  the  Crystal  Palace,  which  had  been  erected  in  Reservoir 
Square,  under  the  direction  of  the  American  Institute, 
through  whose  courtesy  the  exceptional  accommodations 
for  the  festival  were  secured.  The  whole  scene  itself  was 
one  of  great  splendor,  and  will  linger  long  in  the  memory 
of  those  who  participated.  Such  a gathering  was  unpre- 
cedented then,  and  has  never  been  equaled  since.  With 
several  of  my  contemporary  publishers,  I was  one  of  the 
vice-presidents  of  the  occasion. 

Among  the  distinguished  authors  were  the  following  : 

Rev.  William  Adams,  D.  D.,  Thomas  Bailey  Aldrich,  George 
Bancroft,  William  Cullen  Bryant,  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  Cath- 
erine E.  Beecher,  Rev.  Horace  Bushell,  D.  D.,  Rev.  J.  L.  Blake, 
D.D.,  Alice  and  Phoebe  Cary,  George  William  Curtis,  Lydia  Maria 
Childs,  Henry  C.  Carey,  James  E.  Cooley,  Frederick  S.  Cozzens, 
T.  R.  Conrad,  Rev.  George  B.  Cheever,  D.  D.,  Rev.  E.  II.  Chapin, 
D.  D.,  Rev.  Orville  Dewey,  D.  D.,  Professor  Charles  Davies, 
Judge  Charles  P.  Daly,  Fanny  Fern,  Caroline  Gilman,  S.  G.  Good- 
rich, Richard  Hildreth,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  Fitz  Greene 
Halleck,  Washington  Irving,  Caroline  M.  Kirkland,  James  Rus- 
sel Lowell,  B.  J.  Lossing,  J.  P.  Kennedy,  Henry  W.  Longfellow, 
Prof.  S.  F.  B.  Morse,  John  L.  Motley,  Maria  J.  McIntosh,  Rev. 
W.  H.  Milburn,  Rev.  Samuel  Osgood,  D.  D.,  James  Parton,  T. 
Buchanan  Read,  Rev.  Edward  Robinson,  D.  D.,  Professor  Benja- 
min Silliman,  Frederick  Saunders,  Rev.  Gardner  Spring,  D.  D., 
Richard  Henry  Stoddard,  Catherine  M.  Sedgwick,  Rev.  W.  B. 
Sprague,  D.  D.,  Ann  S.  Stephens,  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  Eliza- 
beth Oakes  Smith,  Seba  Smith,  H.  R.  Schoolcraft,  H.  T. 
Tuckerman,  Rev.  S.  H.  Tyng,  D.  D.,  Bayard  Taylor,  John  G. 
Whittier,  N.  P.  Willis,  and  Rev.  Theodore  D.  Woolsey,  D.  D. 

About  six  hundred  invited  guests  were  present,  chiefly 
authors  and  booksellers.  Mr.  William  H.  Appleton,  Pre- 
sident of  the  Publishers*  Association  was  made  chairman, 
and  in  his  opening  address  said  : 

“ Under  the  guise  of  a light  floral  banquet,  it  is  very  possible 
that  we  may  be  inaugurating  a new  era  in  the  history  of  that  trade 


36 


INTRODUCTORY. 


which  ministers  to  the  intellectual  wants  of  a great  and  powerful 
people.  Our  present  social  gathering  of  authors  and  publishers, 
in;iy  lead  to  unanticipated  results.  It  can  hardly  fail  to  promote 
a good  understanding  among  those  who  exert  an  important  in- 
fluence on  the  education  of  the  national  mind,  to  elevate  their 
views,  and  give  additional  union  and  vigor  to  their  efforts,  in  the 
great  cause  to  which  they  are  devoted. 

“ Sensible  of  the  importance  of  the  bookselling  trade,  considered 
simply  as  a branch  of  industry,  and  aware  that  many  of  its  most 
important  general  concerns  have  hitherto  been  left  to  chance  or 
the  narrow  views  of  private  interests,  a number  of  the  booksellers 
of  this  city  decided  to  form  the  present  association,  not  to  con- 
trol or  influence  their  brethren,  but  to  accept  the  charge  of  such 
general  interests  as  are  usually  confided  to  similar  associations  by 
other  trades,  guilds  and  professions.  I am  happy  to  announce  to 
you  that  the  effort  on  our  part  has  met  with  a cordial  response 
from  our  brethren  throughout  the  country,  who  have  promptly 
recognized  the  absolute  necessity  of  such  an  association  by  fur- 
nishing material  for  its  first  operations  in  the  great  trade  sale 
which  is  now  just  terminated.  Hence  the  genial  gathering  of 
kindred  spirits  to  which  I now  bid  you  welcome — an  assemblage 
such  as  this  country  has  never  seen  before,  where  genius  sitting 
in  its  appropriate  high  place  at  the  banquet,  looks  down  with  kind 
regard  on  the  ministers  of  its  power,  and  where  female  talent  and 
beauty,  hitherto  excluded  from  such  festivities,  shed  a holy  and 
ennobling  influence  over  the  scene.  In  the  name  of  the  associa- 
tion, ladies  and  gentlemen,  I bid  you  welcome.” 

Mr.  Appleton  was  followed  by  the  secretary,  the  late 
George  P.  Putnam,  who,  in  responding  to  the  toast 
“ American  Literature  opened  an  admirable  address,  as 
follows  : 

“We  do  not,  in  proposing  the  regular  toasts,  offer  our  re- 
spected guests  choice  Johannisberger  or  Imperial  Tokay  or  spark- 
ling Catawba,  with  which  to  pledge  us,  for  we  booksellers  are  law- 
abiding  citizens.  (Cheers.)  But  though  we  provide  only  such  juice 
of  the  grape  as  is  pure,  beyond  suspicion,  and  in  its  original  pack- 
ages, yet  that  we  trust  the  flavor  of  the  mocha — the  celestial  bev- 
erage— or  the  crystal  Croton,  or  better  than  all,  the  inspiration  of 
the  sentiments  themselves,  and  the  presence  of  those  whoso  emi- 


INTRODUCTORY. 


37 


nently  illustrate  them,  will  touch  responsive  chords  in  generous 
hearts,  and  prompt  the  eloquence  of  tongues  of  some  whose  names 
are  as  familiar  in  our  mouths  as  household  words.  (Applause.) 

“Eighteen  years  ago  a gathering  of  authors  and  booksellers  took 
place  at  the  old  City  Hotel.  Our  recently- formed  association  came 
to  the  sensible  conclusion  that  it  was  quite  time  to  have  another 
such  a caucus,  or  rather  mass  meeting.  The  interests  of  writers, 
publishers  and  sellers  of  books  are  daily  growing  in  magnitude 
and  importance,  and  these  interests  are  and  should  be  mutual  and 
identical.  Friendly  social  intercourse  between  each  other  is  one 
of  the  prominent  objects  of  the  association  of  publishers,  and 
surely  it  is  pleasant,  proper,  and  profitable  to  extend  and  strength- 
en this  intercourse  between  publishers  and  authors.  (Cheers.)  On 
the  occasion  referred  to,  in  March,  1837,  it  was  remarked  by  Mr. 
John  Keese,  speaking  of  the  progress  of  American  literature,  that 
‘ our  once  infant  intellect  now  walks  with  giant  strides.’  ” 

Mr.  James  T.  Fields  read  an  exceedingly  humorous 
poem,  adapted  to  the  occasion. 

Among  the  notable  speeches  made  on  that  occasion  one 
of  them  is  still  fresh  in  my  memory — that  of  Bev.  E.  IT. 
Chapin,  responding  to  the  toast : “ Editors  of  the  News- 
paper Press — Guardians  of  our  Literature  and  sentinels 
on  the  ivatch-toiuers  of  our  Liberties , they  wield  a power 
which  might  dethrone  a monarch  or  elevate  a people.” 

Dr.  Chapin’s  address,  which  occupied  nearly  an  hour, 
electrified  the  audience,  who  were  spell-bound,  by  his  elo- 
quence and  the  power  of  his  speech,  which  was  a masterpiece 
of  oratory.  He  had  not  written  a word  on  the  morning  of 
the  day  on  which  it  was  delivered.  Before  preparing  it 
he  went  down  to  the  office  of  Harper  & Brothers  to  see  a 
power-press  and  to  gather  inspiration  by  looking  at  the 
machinery.  He  was  conducted  over  the  establishment  by 
one  of  the  members  of  the  firm,  and  the  result  proved  the 
use  which  he  made  of  the  information  thus  obtained.  By 
some  mistake  the  same  toast  was  sent  to  Bev.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  and  to  which  he  expected  to  respond.  I recall 
now  how  unequal  to  his  usual  efforts  Mr.  Beecher’s 
address  appeared  at  that  time, — he  said  but  little — and 


38 


INTRODUCTORY. 


that  little  was  disappointing  to  such  an  audience.  In 
a recent  conversation  with  Mr.  Beecher,  referring  to 
this  event,  he  said:  “ Thirty  years  ago,  Chapin  and  I 
were  invited  to  speak  at  the  booksellers’  festival.  By 
some  mistake  the  toast  to  which  we  were  expected  to 
respond  was  sent  to  us  both.  He  preceded  me,  and  he  made 
a speech  that  was  like  a fourth  of  July  pyrotechnic  exhi- 
bition. The  whole  heaven  was  full  of  rockets,  it  was  a 
brilliant,  magnificent  speech.  When  I found  he  had  had 
my  toast,  and  used  it  all  up,  I saw  it  left  me  nothing,  and 
the  only  thing  for  me  to  do  was  to  get  up,  own  the  corn, 
and  sit  down  again.” 

The  celebrated  author  and  orator  Rev.  W.  H.  Mil- 
burn,  responded  to  the  toast,  “ The  Clergy — Promoters 
of  useful  intelligence  and  Christian  patriotism , their  in- 
fluence on  the  minds  of  men  should  entitle  them  to  the 
gratitude  of  all  sensible  booksellers.”  In  his  response,  the 
eloquent  blind  preacher  said  : 

“ Gentlemen  booksellers,  the  leaves  that  you  scatter  are  from 
the  tree  whose  fruit  is  for  the  healing  of  the  nations.  Gentlemen 
publishers,  the  well-heads  opened  in  your  press-rooms  may  send 
forth  streams  to  refresh  and  gladden  the  homes  of  a continent,  so 
that  the  parched  land  shall  become  as  a pool,  and  the  thirsty  land? 
springs  of  water,  and  in  the  habitations  of  dragons,  where  each 
lay,  shall  be  grass  with  weeds  and  rushes. 

“ But  if  I magnify  the  office  of  a maker  and  seller  of  a book, 
how  much  more  the  authors.  As  Wolfe  sadly  and  sweetly  recited 
1 Gray’s  Elegy  ’ upon  the  St.  Lawrence  the  night  before  his  glorious 
fall  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  he  said,  ‘ I would  rather  have  the 
honor  of  writing  that  poem  than  taking  Quebec  to-morrow.’ 

“ Were  I to  paraphrase  his  thought  to  my  wish  it  would  be 
thus:  Could  I have  written  the  ‘Sketch-Book’  (turning  to  Mr. 
Irving),  or  could  I have  sung  that  ode  commencing  ‘The  groves 
were  God’s  first  temples  ’ (turning  to  Mr.  Bryant),  cheerfully  would 
I go  through  life,  binding  this  badge  of  infirmity  upon  my  brow, 
to  wear  it  as  a crown  ; or  groping  in  the  unbroken  darkness,  so 
were  it  the  Father’s  will,  for  threescore  years  and  ten  of  man’s 
appointed  time  !” 


INTRODUCTORY. 


39 


Soon  after  the  close  of  the  festival  I proposed  to  Mr. 
Milburn  to  publish  a collection  of  his  lectures,  which  had 
become  very  popular  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Among 
other  topics  of  which  they  were  composed,  were  those  on 
“The  Symbols  of  Early  Western  Character,”  “The  Tri- 
umphs of  Genius  over  Blindness,”  “ An  Hour’s  Talk  about 
Women,”  and  “Early  Discoveries  in  the  South  West” — 
Mr.  Milburn  accepted  the  proposal,  and  Derby  & Jackson 
published  for  him  in  1859,  a volume  comprising  these  lec- 
tures under  the  general  title  of  “The  Rifle,  Axe,  and 
Saddle-Bags.”  Two  years  later  we  published  for  him  an- 
other volume  of  an  autobiographical  character,  entitled 
“Ten  Years  of  Preacher-Life,”  which  was  very  entertain- 
ing, giving  a graphic  account  of  the  early  struggles  of 
Methodist  preachers  in  the  far  South-west.  Another  vol- 
ume followed  in  1860,  with  the  title  “Pioneers,  Preachers, 
and  People  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.”  All  these  volumes 
were  well  received  by  the  critics  and  the  public,  and  passed 
through  several  editions. 

Mr.  Milburn  has  recently  been  delivering  a new  cours§ 
of  lectures  in  some  of  the  Southern  States,  where  he  has 
passed  a great  portion  of  his  interesting  ministerial  life. 

In  referring  to  The  Publisher’s  Festival,  the  late  Morton 
McMichael,  then  the  distinguished  editor  of  the  Philadel- 
phia North  American,  gave  the  following  account  in  that 
paper  December  14,  1855: — 

“The  last  time  we  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  Washington 
Irving  was  at  the  publisher’s  festival  in  New  York,  in  the  autumn 
of  1855.  All  who  were  present  on  that  occasion  will  remember 
how  fresh  was  his  appearance,  and  how  genial  his  manner,  and 
with  what  a hearty  welcome  he  greeted  the  friends,  old  and  young, 
who  gathered  around  him.  Among  the  former  was  our  townsman, 
Mr.  Moses  Thomas,  and  in  reference  to  the  interview  between 
these  gentlemen,  the  American  Publisher’s  Circular  said  : — 

“ One  of  the  interesting  incidents  at  the  recent  festival  was  the 
meeting  of  Washington  Irving  with  his  old  friend  Moses  Thomas, 
the  veteran  and  much-respected  ex-publisher  of  Philadelphia. 


40 


INTRODUCTORY. 


Mr.  Irving,  in  his  younger  days,  had  been  intimate  with  Mr. 
Thomas,  and  cherished  for  him  the  highest  regard,  but  it  so  hap- 
pened that  they  had  not  met  for  more  than  a quarter  of  a century. 
A month  or  two  later  Mr.  Irving  addressed  the  following  letter 
to  Mr.  Thomas  which  we  are  tempted  to  reprint  as  at  once  showing 
his  disinclination  to  public  display,  and  his  cordial  recognition 
of  the  claims  of  private  friendship: — 

“Sunuyside,  Dec.  14,  1855. 

uMy  Dear  Thomas, 

“I  thank  you  heartily  for  your  kind  and  hospitable  invitation 
to  your  house,  which  I should  be  glad  to  accept  did  I propose 
attending  the  Godey  complimentary  dinner,  but  the  annoyance  I 
suffer  at  dinners  of  this  kind  in  having  to  attempt  speeches,  or 
bear  compliments  in  silence  has  made  me  abjure  them  altogether. 
The  publishers’  festival  at  which  I had  the  great  pleasure  of  meet- 
ing you  was  an  exception  to  my  rule,  but  only  made  on  condition 
that  I would  not  be  molested  by  extra  civilities.  I regret  that  on 
that  occasion  we  were  separated  from  each  other,  and  could 
not  sit  together  and  talk  of  old  times.  However,  I trust  we  shall 
J have  a future  opportunity  of  so  doing.  I wish  when  you  visit 
New  York  you  would  take  a run  up  to  ‘Sunnyside.’  The  cars 
will  set  you  down  within  ten  minutes  walk  of  my  house,  where 
*my  ‘ woman  kind  ’ will  receive  you  (figuratively  speaking)  with 
open  arms,  and  my  dogs  will  not  dare  to.  bark  at  you. 

“ Yours,  ever  very  truly, 

“ Moses  Thomas,  Esq.  Washington  Irving.” 

During  my  winter  in  Washington  in  1862,  1 saw  much 
of  the  late  Emmanuel  Leutze,  the  famous  historical  artist, 
whose  genial  friendship  I had  enjoyed  for  many  years  in 
New  York.  He  was  at  that  time  under  contract  with  the 
government  to  paint  his  wonderful  mural  picture,  “ West- 
ward the  Star  of  Empire  takes  its  way,”  for  which  he  was 
paid  $20,000. 

One  day  while  in  his  studio,  the  artist  said  to  me  : 
“ Derby,  I want  your  beard  for  one  of  my  figures  in  the 
picture,  and  if  you  will  sit  for  me,  I will  paint  your  por- 
trait,” which  proposition,  on  such  flattering  terms,  I read- 
ily accepted.  The  portrait  is  now  in  the  possession  of  my 
family,  a copy  of  the  beard  he  transferred  to  one  of  the 


INTRODUCTORY. 


41 


pioneers  of  the  emigrant  train.  The  painting  itself  adorns 
the  walls  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  placed  above  the 
magnificent  marble  stairway  at  the  north  end  of  the  west 
corridor  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

About  this  time  I occasionally  met  at  Leutze's  studio 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  while  sitting  for  his  portrait.  He 
conceived  as  great  a liking  for  the  famous  artist,  as  the 
painter  did  for  the  great  romancer.  In  April,  1862, 
Hawthorne  wrote  his  friend,  James  T.  Fields,  as  fol- 
lows : 

“ I stay  here  only  while  Leutze  finishes  a portrait  which  I 
think  will  be  the  best  ever  painted  of  the  same  unworthy  subject. 
One  charm  it  must  needs  have — an  aspect  of  immortal  jollity  and 
well-to-doness;  for  Leutze,  when  the  sitting  begins,  gives  me  a 
first-rate  cigar,  and  when  he  sees  me  getting  tired  he  brings  out  a 
bottle  of  splendid  champagne,  and  we  quaffed  and  smoked  yes- 
terday, in  a blessed  state  of  mutual  good-will,  for  three  hours  and 
a half,  during  which  the  picture  made  a really  miraculous  pro- 
gress. Leutze  is  the  best  of  fellows.” 

% 

On  the  9th  of  October,  1865,  I was  appointed  by  the 
Government,  United  States  General  Agent  of  the  Paris 
Exposition  of  1867,  and  although  not  familiar  with  the 
duties  which  such  a position  devolved  upon  me,  and  Con- 
gress being  very  late  in  providing  the  necessary  appropri- 
ation for  the  expenses  attendant  upon  such  an  undertak- 
ing, the  American  display  at  the  Exposition  was  very  grat- 
ifying to  the  country,  which  had  so  recently  emerged 
from  an  exhausting  civil  war. 

The  products  of  every  State  except  one  were  on  exhi- 
bition at  Paris,  and  the  American  exhibitors  carried  off 
some  of  the  most  important  prizes  awarded  in  this  compe- 
tition of  the  best  products  of  all  nations.  This  satisfactory 
result  was  reached  by  the  care  taken,  in  surrounding  my- 
self with  competent  committees,  specially  qualified  to  ad- 
vise in  the  selection  of  exhibits  belonging  to  each  group 
and  class.  Among  my  advisory  committee  were  the  fol- 


42 


INTRODUCTORY. 


lowing  well  known  gentlemen,  each  of  whom  was  chair- 
man of  one  of  the  ten  respective  groups  : William  J.  Hop- 
pin,  Charles  A.  Joy,  Richard  M.  Hunt,  Elliot  C.  Cowdin, 
Samuel  B.  Ruggles,  Francisco  W.  Evans,  Frederick  Law 
Olmsted,  William  S.  Carpenter,  Thomas  McElrath  and 
Charles  L.  Brace.  For  the  success  of  the  Paris  Universal 
Exposition  of  1867,  much  is  also  due  to  Hon.  John  Bige- 
low, at  that  time  United  States  Minister  at  Paris,  and  to 
N.  M.  Beckwith,  Esq.,  United  States  Commissioner  Gen- 
eral, without  whose  early,  able  and  persistent  efforts,  the 
United  States  would  have  been  without  representation. 

A complete  account  of  the  origin,  progress  and  result 
of  the  Exposition  has  been  published  by  the  government,  in 
six  large  volumes.  At  the  close  of  the  Exposition  I re- 
ceived from  the  French  Government,  a gold  medal  and  also 
one  in  bronze  with  the  following  inscription. 

Napoleon  III.  Empereur. 

Exposition  Universelle  de  MDCCCLXVII  a Paris. 

J.  C.  Derby. 

Pour  Services  Rendus. 

In  the  year  1855,  I was  elected  a member  of  the  Cent- 
ury Association,  or  as  it  is  more  commonly  called  “ The 
Century  Club.” 

This  association,  which  was  organized  in  the  year  1846, 
was  originally  composed  of  one  hundred  members,  from 
whence  it  derives  its  name.  The  members  as  a rule  are 
composed  of  artists,  authors,  publishers,  scientists  and 
other  gentlemen  of  culture  and  literary  taste.  Its  first 
president  was  the  late  Gulian  C.  Yerplanck,  who  died  in 
1870,  full  of  years  and  literary  honors.  His  successor,  the 
Hon.  George  Bancroft,  resigned,  soon  after  his  appoint- 
ment as  United  States  Minister  to  Berlin.  William  Cul- 
len Bryant  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy,  remaining  in 
that  office  until  his  death  in  1879,  when  Daniel  Hunt- 
ington was  elected  to  succeed  him.  Mr.  Huntington 


INTRODUCTORY. 


43 


is  also  president  of  the  National  Academy  of  Design, 
of  which  institution  I became  a “Fellow”  in  the  year 
1860. 

Mr.  Huntington  was  one  of  the  original  founders  of 
the  Century,  and  with  Mr.  A.  B.  Durand,  the  venerable 
artist,  Mr.  John  II.  Gourlie,  well  known  among  men  of 
letters,  and  Mr.  W.  J.  Hoppin,  who  fills  the  post  of 
“Charge  d*  Affaires”  of  the  United  States  Government 
at  London  with  so  much  credit,  alone  survive.  Since  I 
was  admitted  to  the  Club  one  hundred  and  thirty  members 
have  died,  all  but  eight  of  whom  joined  since  my  admis- 
sion to  membership.  Among  them  I recall  many  well 
known  in  artistic,  literary,  scientific,  legal  and  mercantile 
circles,  most  of  whom  were  my  valued  and  personal 
friends. 

Of  the  many  privileges  of  which  during  my  business 
career,  I have  been  a sharer,  I look  back  to  none  fraught 
with  more  pleasure,  profit  and  advantage,  than  my  mem- 
bership with  the  Century  Association. 

In  the  year  1864,  while  holding  a confidential  position 
under  the  Government,  I was  deputed  by  the  Secretary 
of  State  to  deliver  to  Commodore  Vanderbilt,  the  following 
resolutions,  which  had  been  passed  by  Congress,  and  ele- 
gantly engrossed  and  mounted  in  a handsome  frame  : 

“A  Resolution  presenting  the  thanks  of  Congress 
to  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  for  a gift  of  the  Steam- 
ship Vanderbilt. 

“ Whereas  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  of  New  York,  did, 
during  the  spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-two,  make 
a free  gift  to  his  imperiled  country  of  his  new  and  stanch 
steamship  ‘ Vanderbilt/  of  five  thousand  tons  burden, 
built  by  him  with  the  greatest  care,  of  the  best  materials, 
at  a cost  of  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars,  which  steam- 
ship has  ever  since  been  actively  employed  in  the  service 
of  the  Republic  against  the  Rebel  devastations  of  her  com- 


44 


INTRODUCTORY. 


merce,  and  whereas  the  said  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  lias  in 
no  manner  sought  any  requital  of  his  munificent  gift  nor 
any  official  recognition  thereof  ; 

“ Therefore,  Resolved,  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress 
assembled,  That  the  thanks  of  Congress  be  presented  to 
Cornelius  Vanderbilt  for  his  unique  manifestation  of  a fer- 
vid and  large-souled  patriotism. 

“And,  be  it  further  Resolved,  That  the  President  of  the 
United  States  be  requested  to  cause  a gold  medal  to  be 
struck,  which  shall  fitly  embody  an  attestation  of  the 
nation’s  gratitude  for  this  gift ; which  medal  shall  be  for- 
warded to  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  ; a copy  of  it  being  made 
and  deposited  for  preservation  in  the  Library  of  Congress. 

“Approved,  January  28,  1864. 

“Abraham  Lincoln, 

“ President. 

“ Schuyler  Colfax, 

“ Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

“H.  Hamlin, 

“Vice-President  of  the  United  States  and 
President  of  the  Senate. 

“W.  Hunter, 

“ Chief  Clerk. 

“Executed  at  the  Department  of  State  by  Henry  Westerland.” 

In  accordance  with  instructions,  I conveyed  the  same, 
and  after  reading  it  carefully,  the  Commodore  looked  at 
me  and  said,  in  his  well  known  decided  manner  : “ Con- 
gress be  damned!  I never  gave  that  ship  to  Congress. 
When  the  Government  was  in  great  straits  for  a suitable 
vessel  of  war,  I offered  to  give  the  ship  if  they  did  not  care 
to  buy  it ; however,  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Wells  think  it 
was  a gift,  and  I suppose  I shall  have  to  ‘let  her  go.’” 

The  medal  referred  to  in  the  resolution  was  not  ready 
for  a long  time  afterwards ; it  was  subsequently  delivered, 


INTRODUCTORY. 


45 


however,  and  was  very  elegant,  bearing  the  following 
inscription  : 

A GRATEFUL  COUNTRY  TO  HER  GENEROUS  SON, 

Cornelius  Vanderbilt.  (His  profile.) 

Reverse  side: 

Bis  DAT  QUI  TEMPORI  DAT. 

1885. 

(Ship,)  (Slave,)  (Liberty,)  (Eagle.) 

The  proffer  of  the  vessel  happened  in  this  wise  : 

On  the  14th  of  May,  186?,  Commodore  Vanderbilt 
wrote  a letter  to  the  late  W.  O.  Bartlett,  a gentleman  of 
well  known  and  wise  in  diplomacy,  father  of  the  present 
Judge  Willard  Bartlett,  in  which  he  said  that  he  had  offer- 
ed to  dispose  of  the  ocean  steamer  “ Vanderbilt  ” to  the 
Government,  but  had  received  no  answer  to  his  communi- 
cation. 

He  further  added  : 

“ You  are  authorized  to  renew  this  proposition  with  such  ad- 
ditions thereto  as  are  hereinafter  set  forth.  I feel  a great  desire 
that  the  government  should  have  the  steamer  ‘ Vanderbilt,’  as 
she  is  acknowledged  to  be  as  fine  a ship  as  floats  the  ocean,  and, 
in  consequence  of  her  great  speed  and  capacity  wrould,  with  a 
proper  armament,  be  of  more  efficient  service  in  keeping  our  coast 
clear  of  piratical  vessels  than  any  other  ship.  Therefore  you  are 
authorized  to  say,  in  my  behalf,  that  the  government  can  take 
this  ship  at  a valuation  to  be  determined  by  the  Hon.  Robert  F. 
Stockton  of  New  Jersey,  the  only  ex-commodore  in  the  navy,  and 
any  two  commodores  in  the  service  to  be  selected  by  the  govern- 
ment; and  if  this  will  not  answer,  will  the  government  accept  her 
as  a present  from  their  humble  servant  ? 

“ Yours  very  respectfully, 

“ C.  Vanderbilt.” 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  a portion  of  the  “ Vanderbilt’s  99 
machinery  was  above  deck  and  would  be  exposed  to  the 
enemy’s  shot,  the  Navy  Department  was  for  a time  unwil- 


46 


INTRODUCTORY. 


ling  to  accept  this  vessel,  but  afterwards,  when  better  pro- 
vided with  long  range  cannon,  which  would  enable  her  to 
use  her  own  guns  at  a safe  distance  from  those  of  the  ene- 
my, she  was  accepted  by  the  Government,  converted  into 
a powerful  man-of-war  and  sent  upon  a cruise  in  search  of 
privateers. 

The  vessel  did  excellent  service,  and  proved  a most 
valuable  acquisition  to  the  navy.  The  gift  was  worth  in 
money,  not  far  from  three-quarters  of  a million  of  dollars. 

My  acquaintance  with  the  late  William  Orton  began 
in  1850,  when  he  was  a clerk  for  my  brother  George,  then 
a bookseller  at  Geneva,  N.  Y.  When  my  brother  removed 
to  Buffalo  he  placed  young  Orton  in  charge  of  his  Geneva 
store,  and  it  was  afterwards  conducted  by  the  firm  of 
Prince,  Orton  & Miller.  After  the  death  of  my  brother 
in  1852,  the  business  at  Buffalo  and  Geneva  was  carried  on 
under  the  style  of  Derby,  Orton  & Co.,  the  firm  consisting 
of  William  Orton,  N.  C.  Miller  and  myself  ; Mr.  Orton 
having  taken  charge  of  the  Buffalo  store.  Subsequently 
the  business  was  removed  to  New  York,  continuing  under 
the  style  of  Miller,  Orton  & Co.,  until  1857,  when  the  firm 
• went  into  liquidation. 

Soon  after  this  Mr.  Orton  became  managing  clerk  for  J. 
G.  Gregory  & Co.,  where  he  developed  a marked  and  ex- 
quisite talent  in  the  art  of  fine  book- making,  he  was  the 
embodiment  of  industry  and  cultivated  taste  and  a thorough 
hater  of  all  vicious  literature. 

Mr.  Orton  soon  became  active  in  politics  ; being  a man 
of  fine  personal  appearance  and  a good  debater,  he  was 
elected  to  the  Common  Council  of  New  York,  where  his 
first  undertaking  was  the  exposure  of  the  many  fraudulent 
practices  of  the  city  government. 

He  was  appointed  by  President  Lincoln  collector  of  in- 
ternal revenue  for  one  of  the  New  York  districts,  where  he 
displayed  a rare  capability  for  finance  which  soon  led  to 
his  appointment  by  President  Lincoln,  on  the  recommen- 


INTRODUCTORY. 


47 


dation  of  Secretary  Chase,  to  the  important  position  of 
United  States  Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue. 

Subsequently  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Co.  offered 
him  the  position  of  vice-president,  which  he  accepted, 
and  filled  with  such  entire  satisfaction  to  the  directors 
that  he  was  soon  elected  president  of  that  great  company. 
From  this  time  forth  Mr.  Orton  became  a recognized  power 
in  the  great  enterprises  of  the  day.  This  was  so  evident  to 
him  that  he  had  a profound  sense  of  the  trust  and  honor 
of  his  position  ; his  devotion  took  on  a new  intensity,  of 
which  but  very  few  fully  knew  or  understood.  Ilis  ad- 
ministration was  energetic,  brilliant  and  successful ; no  one 
could  watch  him  closely  without  feeling  that  the  brain 
which  worked  so  intensely  was  in  constant  danger. 

The  over-worked  man  finally  broke  down,  and  the  world 
lost  by  the  death  William  Orton,  a man  of  sterling  charac- 
ter and  Christian  manhood,  one  that  it  could  ill  afford  to 
spare. 

In  the  year  1860  the  firm  of  Derby  & Jackson  pub- 
lished a volume  entitled  “ Five  Years  in  China,  with  some 
account  of  The  Great  Rebellion  under  the  insurgent  chief 
Tai-Ping-Wong.”  The  author  of  this  book,  Rev.  Charles 
Taylor,  M.D.,  was  my  schoolmate  more  than  half  a cen- 
tury ago,  when  his  father,  the  Rev.  Oliver  S.  Taylor,  M.D., 
— to  whom  the  volume  was  dedicated — was  a teacher  in  the 
Auburn  Academy,  and  one  of  whose  pupils  a few  years 
later  was  Frederick  W.  Seward,  late  Assistant  Secretary  of 
State. 

Reverend  Dr.  Oliver  S.  Taylor,  is  still  living  in  Auburn, 
in  the  one  hundredth  year  of  his  age*  In  recent  letters 
received  from  him  he  says  : — 

“ Although  my  health  is  good,  yet  my  right  arm  and 
hand  are  much  disabled,  and  on  most  occasions  I am  unable 
to  write  a legible  hand.  Though  my  mind  and  memory 
remain  in  a good  state,  as  you  know  I have  been  long  deaf. 


* Ke  was  born  in  December,  1784. 


48 


INTRODUCTORY. 


and  now  my  eyes  are  failing  very  fast,  so  that  I fear  I shall 
be  utterly  blind/’  . . . . “ I’ve  worked  harder  than 

any  man  I ever  knew.  I have  never  been  sick  but  a day 
and  a half  in  my  life,  and  that  was  seventy-three  years  ago, 
and  X want  you  to  know  that  nine  of  us,  five  daughters 
and  four  sons,  all  were  strictly  temperate,  total  abstainers 
from  alcohol  and  tobacco  in  every  form.  The  ages  of  six  of 
us  average  ninety  years  and  ten  months  each.” 

Dr.  Taylor  graduated  from  Dartmouth  College  in  1808. 
His  health  still  remains  good.  It  is  believed  that  he  is 
the  oldest  inhabitant  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  the 
oldest  college  graduate  in  America. 

Both  Mr.  Carleton,  and  myself  were  at  one  time  asso- 
ciated in  a business  way  with  the  celebrated  photographic 
artist  Napoleon  Sarony.  The  portrait  on  steel  of  Geo. 
W.  Carleton,  which  graces  this  book  from  Sarony’s  photo- 
graph, I can  vouch  for  as  a “ speaking  likeness”  of  my 
Publisher,  who  has  modestly  consented  to  thus  let  his 
genial  face  be  seen  “ as  others  see  it.”  He  alone  is  respon- 
sible for  the  introduction  of  the  Author’s  portrait,  also 
from  a Sarony  imperial,  as  a frontispiece. 

I am  greatly  indebted  to  Mr.  S.  B.  Noyes,  the  accom- 
plished librarian  of  the  Brooklyn  Library,  for  his  courtesy 
in  furnishing  me  with  valuable  books  of  reference,  and 
especially  for  that  noble  monument  of  his  scholarly  taste, 
the  “ Catalogue  of  the  Brooklyn  Library,”  which  is  so 
admirably  classified  by  “Authors,  Titles,  Subjects  and 
Classes,”  in  a folio  volume  of  over  eleven  hundred  pages. 

To  Miss  Mary  F.  Seymour, — the  head  of  a large  and 
well-equipped  stenographic  and  type-writing  bureau,  well 
known  as  a skillful  stenographer, — and  also  for  her  rare 
culture  and  correct  literary  taste,  I am  indebted  for  relief 
from  many  of  the  laborious  details  which  the  preparation 
of  a work  of  this  nature  necessarily  involves. 


HENRY  IVISON. 


Early  apprenticeship  to  William  Williams  of  Utica — Opens 
a booh  store  in  Auburn — S.  Wells  Williams — Ex-  Gov. 
Thro  op,  and  the  Albany  Regency — President  Van 
Buren  on  a fence — Mr.  Seward  and  Washington  Ir- 
ving— Ivison  removes  to  New  York — Marie  II  New- 
man & Co. — Newman  & Ivison — Sad  death  of  John 
C.  Ivison — Ivison , Phinney , Blakeman  d?  Co. — The 
thirty  day  credit  system — He  astonishes  Trubner  & 
Co.,  London — Immeyise  sales  of  school-books — Retires 
with  an  ample  fortune. 

TT ENKY  IVISON  recently  retired  with  an  ample  fortune 
from  the  head  of  a firm,  undoubtedly  the  largest 
school-book  publishing  house  in  the  world.  It  is  pleasant 
to  write  thus  of  him,  who  took  me  as  an  apprentice,  when 
a youngster  to  learn  the  business  of  book-selling. 

Mr.  Ivison  came  to  this  country  from  Scotland  in  the 
year  1820,  in  company  with  his  father's  family,  but  they, 
returning  soon  to  their  native  land,  left  their  boy  behind, 
to  learn  the  trade  of  book-binding,  apprenticing  him  for 
that  purpose  to  William  Williams,  of  Utica,  then  the 
largest  book-seller  west  of  Albany.  It  was  with  William  Wil- 
liams, that  the  late  Thuriow  Weed  at  one  time  worked  as 
a journeyman  printer. 

8 


[49] 


50 


HENRY  IVISON. 


Young  Ivison  was  received  into  the  family  of  his  em- 
ployer where  he  was  treated  as  one  of  the  children,  Mr. 
Williams  having  conceived  a fancy  for  him,  because  of  his 
tender  years,  and  from  the  fact  of  his  being  left  alone,  a 
young  stranger  in  a strange  country.  He  remained  with 
his  employer  for  nine  years,  and  then,  in  the  year  1829, 
after  he  had  served  his  apprenticeship,  he  said  to  Mr.  Wil- 
liams, “ Now  I am  out  of  my  time,  I hardly  know  what  is 
the  best  thing  for  me  to  do.”  Mr.  Williams  replied,  saying, 
“ Henry,  keep  right  on  and  remain  with  my  family.  I 
should  be  glad  to  have  you  continue  in  my  employ.” 

About  the  year  1830,  Mr.  Williams  had  occasion  to  visit 
the  western  part  of  the  state,  and  stopping  at  Auburn,  he 
there  met  his  old  friend,  the  late  James  S.  Seymour,  then 
Cashier  of  the  Bank  of  Auburn,  a man  of  great  worth  and 
influence.  Mr.  Seymour  asked,  “Haven't  you  a young 
man  you  could  send  out  here  to  start  a book  store  ?”  There 
were  stores  already  located  there  of  that  nature,  but  they 
were  not  satisfactory  to  the  better  class  of  people,  especially 
to  the  professors  and  students  of  the  Auburn  Theological 
Seminary,  in  which  Institution  Mr.  Seymour  held  an  official 
position.  Mr.  Williams  at  once  replied,  “I  think  I have 
a person  with  me  who  would  suit  you — a young  man  just 
out  of  his  time  with  me.” 

After  the  return  of  Mr.  Williams  to  IJtica,  he  called 
young  Ivison  into  his  office  and  said  to  him,  “Henry,  I 
think  I have  got  an  opportunity  for  you  to  go  into  busi- 
ness. A friend  of  mine  at  Auburn  wants  another  book 
store  there.”  Mr.  Ivison  replied,  that  he  had  no  experi- 
ence in  a book  store,  although  he  did  know  how  to  bind 
books.  “That  is  true,”  said  Mr.  Williams,  “but  you 
can  soon  learn.  You  can  go  right  into  my  store  to-morrow 
morning,  and  my  head  clerk  will  give  you  all  the  facilities 
you  need  to  get  acquainted  with  the  details  of  the  book- 
selling business.” 

Accordingly  Mr.  Ivison  spent  about  six  months  at  this 
new  business,  and  then  went  with  a letter  of  introduction 


HENRY  IVISON. 


51 


to  Mr.  Seymour  at  Auburn,  who  had  agreed  to  furnish  six- 
teen hundred  dollars  capital,  the  net  profits  to  be  divided 
equally  between  them.  Mr.  Williams  purchased  the  first 
stock  for  the  young  book-seller,  and  with  it  sent  his  son 
Wells,  who  had  experience  in  the  book  store.  Mr.  Ivison 
was  about  two  years  his  senior.  Rev.  S.  Wells  Williams, 
D.  D.,  subsequently  went  to  China  as  missionary  printer, 
becoming  famous  as  the  historian  of  that  country,  and 
useful  as  a diplomat  in  negotiations  made  from  time  to 
time  between  China  and  our  own  country.  His  work  “ The 
Middle  Kingdom,  '*  has  become  the  best  authority  on  all 
that  pertains  to  the  Celestial  Empire.  His  recent  death 
while  President  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  caused  uni- 
versal regret. 

He  remained  with  Mr.  Ivison  several  months,  leaving  him 
then,  to  prosecute  the  venture  alone.  A large  business  was 
built  up,  not  only  in  Auburn,  but  embracing  surrounding 
territory.  The  store  at  Auburn  had  only  one  counter,  but 
one  side  was  completely  filled  with  books.  One  morning, 
a green,  country-looking  young  man  walked  in,  and  looked 
around  among  the  books  on  the  shelves,  and  was  finally 
attracted  by  a copy  of  Thucydides.  Calling  for  Mr.  Ivison 
he  asked,  “ Will  you  please  tell  me  what  kind  of  book  is 
that  Thuck-a-di-des  \” 

Mr.  Ivison  relates  a good  story  of  a visit  of  President 
Martin  Van  Buren  to  Willow  Brook,  the  residence  of  Go- 
vernor Throop,  near  Auburn.  He  was  accompanied  by 
what  was  called  the  Albany  Regency,  a syndicate  of  re- 
nowned politicians,  consisting  of  Azariah  C.  Flagg,  William 
L.  Macy,  Silas  Wright,  and  Edwin  Croswell  (editor  of  the 
Albany  Argus).  The  Governor  owned  a large  and  well- 
cultivated  farm  on  the  banks  of  Owasco  Lake,  near  Auburn, 
and  was  anxious  to  have  the  President  view  the  beauties  of 
the  place.  After  walking  half  way  around  it,  they  all 
climbed  a fence,  and  sat  down  on  the  top  rail  to  rest. 
“ Throop  !”  said  the  President,  “ have  you  a map  of  this 
place  ?”  “ I think  I have  at  the  house  !”  was  the  reply  of 


u.  OF  iLL  LIB. 


52 


HENRY  IVISON. 


the  Governor.  “ Well/’  continued  the  President,  “ If  you 
have  no  objection  I will  look  at  the  map  for  the  rest  of  it. 
I have  traveled  quite  far  enough.”  The  Regency  then  ad- 
journed to  the  house  for  refreshments. 

I remember  one  day,  Mr.  Seward,  then  Governor  of  the 
State,  came  into  the  store,  accompanied  by  a fine-looking 
gentleman.  The  former  asked  Mr.  Ivison  if  he  had  a 
copy  of  Washington  Irving's  latest  work,  receiving  an 
answer  in  the  affirmative,  at  the  same  time  being  furnished 
with  a copy  which  he  purchased,  turned  to  his  com- 
panion and  said,  “ I want  your  autograph  in  the  book.” 
The  gentleman  then  took  a pen  from  Mr.  Ivison's  desk, 
and  writing  his  name  in  the  volumes,  handed  them  to  Mr. 
Seward.  That  was  the  first  time  I had  ever  seen  Washing- 
ton Irving. 

After  a moderately  successful  business  of  sixteen  years, 
Mr.  Ivison  removed  to  New  York.  During  one  of  his  busi- 
ness trips  to  that  city,  he  became  acquainted  with  Mark  H. 
Newman,  then  a successful  school-book  publisher.  Mr. 
Ivison  not  only  bought  supplies  from  Mr.  Newman,  but 
books  purchased  at  other  houses  were  packed  there. 

Mr.  Newman's  health  at  that  time  was  very  poor.  One 
day  he  saw  Mr.  Ivison  carrying  large  parcels  to  be  packed 
at  his  store,  and  stopping  him  said,  “ Ivison,  I see  you  are 
not  afraid  to  carry  your  own  bundles.  Now  I want  just 
such  a good  strong  man  as  you  are  to  come  to  New  York, 
and  help  me,  as  my  health  is  failing,  and  you  have  health, 
experience  and  capacity.''  Mr.  Ivison  replied  that  there 
were  two  obstacles  to  overcome  before  he  could  give  a posi- 
tive answer : One  was,  the  necessity  of  consulting  his 
wife,  and  the  other,  the  question  of  capital.  Mrs.  Ivison 
favored  the  removal  to  New  York.  The  next  question  was  : 
What  to  do  with  the  Auburn  Store. 

It  was  finally  decided  that  Mr.  Ivison's  brother,  John, 
should  take  charge  of  it,  and  continue  the  business.  The 
latter  was  a young  man  at  that  time,  about  the  same  age 
as  myself,  and  formerly  a fellow  clerk  in  his  brother’s 


HENRY  IYISON. 


53 


book  store.  He  was  very  fond  of  hunting,  and  one  day 
went  alone  to  shoot  ducks  on  one  of  the  neighboring  lakes. 
On  the  following  day,  his  body  was  found  near  his  boat, 
with  his  unloaded  guu,  evidently  accidentally  discharged. 
Thus  a bright  and  promising  young  man  was  suddenly 
ushered  into  another  world,  leaving  a fond  young  wife,  and 
infant  son  ; the  latter,  thirty  years  later,  also  became  a 
bookseller  in  Auburn. 

In  the  year  1846,  Mr.  Ivison  removed  with  his  family 
to  New  York,  becoming  a partner  with  Mr.  Newman,  con- 
tributing a moderate  amount  of  capital — the  style  of  the 
firm  being  Mark  H.  Newman  & Co.  The  most  important 
books  published  by  them,  were  Saunders’  Readers,  the  first 
consecutive  set  of  readers  published  in  this  country,  be- 
ginning with  the  primer  and  spelling-book,  and  then  graded 
from  that,  up  to  five  readers  in  the  set.  The  sale  of  these 
books  was  very  large  at  that  time,  and  has  steadily  in- 
creased each  year,  until  the  sale  of  the  series  is  enormous. 

At  the  expiration  of  five  years,  a new  partnership  for 
three  years  was  formed,  under  the  firm  name  of  Newman 
& Ivison,  but  before  the  end  of  the  first  year,  the  senior 
partner  died,  leaving  the  business  entirely  in  Mr.  Ivison’s 
hands,  who  carried  it  on  in  accordance  with  the  partnership 
articles,  by  the  consent  of  Mr.  Newman’s  executor.  Mr. 
Ivison  then  bought  out  the  entire  interest  of  the  concern, 
re-organizing  the  business,  and  admitting  thereto,  H.  F. 
Phinney,  of  Cooperstown,  N.  Y.,  an  experienced  book- 
seller, and  son-in-law  of  J.  Fenimore  Cooper.  The  firm  of 
Ivison  & Phinney  is  perhaps  better  known  to-day,  than  any 
other  with  which  Mr.  Ivison  has  been  associated. 

Mr.  Phinney’s  health  failing,  Mr.  Birdsey  Blakeman, 
Augustus  C.  Taylor  and  Mr.  Ivison’s  oldest  son,  David  B., 
the  latter  having  been  born  at  Auburn  when  I was  a clerk 
for  his  father  and  member  of  the  household,  were  admitted 
as  partners  in  the  year  1866,  the  firm  being  known  as 
Ivison,  Phinney,  Blakeman  & Co.  One  of  the  first  acts 
of  the  new  concern  was  to  reduce  the  length  of  credits  to 


54 


HENRY  IVISON. 


wholesale  buyers.  Instead  of  allowing  the  usual  six  months* 
credit  on  purchases,  the  time  was  reduced  to  thirty  days, 
a change  which  has  proved  of  great  benefit  both  to  buyer 
and  seller,  bringing  all  transactions  so  much  nearer  to  a 
cash  basis,  large  sums  having  been  previously  lost  by  too 
extended  credits. 

Their  example  in  this  respect  has  been  generally  fol- 
lowed by  the  school-book  publishers. 

When  Mr.  Ivison  visited  London,  in  the  year  1866,' 
soon  after  the  close  of  the  civil  war,  he  called  upon  Messrs. 
Trubner  & Co.,  from  whom  his  firm  had  purchased  large 
quantities  of  paper,  and  owing  to  the  great  scarcity  of 
rags  in  America,  saved  thereby  from  ten  to  fifteen  per 
cent.  On  giving  a large  order  for  further  supplies,  Mr. 
Trubner  said  : 

“ What  on  the  face  of  the  earth  do  you  do  with  all  the 
paper  you  buy  of  us  ?** 

u We  make  it  into  school-books/*  answered  Mr.  Ivison. 

Said  Mr.  Trubner:  “ I should  think  that  you  had  school- 
books enough  to  furnish  the  whole  world.** 

Messrs.  Trubner  & Co.  themselves  were  publishers  of  a 
series  of  school-books  in  use  largely  throughout  Great 
Britain,  and  Mr.  Trubner  told  Mr.  Ivison  that  their  firm 
published  more  school-books  than  any  one  else  in  London 
or  elsewhere. 

Mr.  Ivison  told  him  in  return,  that  of  Saunders*  Pic- 
torial Primer,  they  never  put  on  the  press  at  one  time  less 
than  100,000.  Saunders*  readers  have  had  a phenomenal 
sale  ; perhaps  the  largest  of  any  series  ever  published. 

The  present  firm  of  Ivison,  Blakeman,  Taylor  & Co. 
publish  more  than  three  hundred  different  school-books, 
among  them  Webster*s  School  Dictionary,  Dana*s  Geology, 
Gray*s  Botany,  Robinson’s  Mathematics,  Fasquelle*s  French 
Course,  Wells*  Scientific  Series,  and  the  famous  Spencerian 
copy-books,  and  last  but  not  least,  Swinton*s  series  of 
School  Readers,  the  sales  of  which  have  reached  a magni- 


HENRY  IYISON. 


55 


tude  that  would  astonish  my  readers,  were  I permitted  to 
give  them. 

Mr.  Swinton  is  the  author  of  several  interesting  volumes 
on  the  late  Civil  War,  which  have  been  received  with 
marked  favor  in  military  circles.  He  was  military  editor 
and  army  correspondent  of  the  JV.  Y.  Times , and  was 
present  at  many  of  the  battles  which  he  vividly  describes. 

Successful  school-book  publishing  represents  immense 
capital,  sagacity  and  enterprise.  Mr.  Ivison  attributes  the 
success  of  his  firm,  under  the  blessing  of  Providence,  to 
steady  industry,  economy,  strict  adherence  to  the  one  line 
of  publication  undertaken,  without  turning  to  the  right 
hand  or  to  the  left,  to  the  avoidance  of  all  speculations, 
liberal  and  judicious  advertising,  well-organized  agency 
plans  and  thoughtful  treatment  of  their  patrons. 

Mr.  Ivison  being  no  longer  in  active  business  life,  re- 
sides part  of  his  time  at  his  elegant  residence  in  New 
York,  and  during  the  summer  at  his  charming  home  at 
Stockbridge,  Mass.  In  closing  this  sketch  of  one  I have 
known  so  well  for  more  than  half  a century,  I will  add 
what  is  fittingly  said  of  him  in  the  language  of  another: 

“ Among  the  characteristics  of  Mr.  IvisoiPs  business  life, 
the  finest  qualities  of  head  and  heart  were  ever  con- 
spicuous. To  his  partners  and  employees  he  was  like  the 
head  of  a family,  and  his  sunny  influence  pervaded  every 
department  of  the  concern.  It  is  said  that  he  never  had  a 
harsh  word  with  a partner;  that  he  never  sued  or  was  sued 
in  his  life  ; and  that  no  piece  of  his  business  paper  ever 
passed  maturity.  Those  who  succeed  him  will  still  have 
the  benefit  of  his  counsel  and  experience.  Mr.  Ivison  will 
carry  with  him  into  his  retirement  the  cordial  wishes  for 
many  years  of  health  and  happiness  of  the  trade  and  of 
hosts  of  people  who  have  received  instruction  from  some 
one  or  more  of  the  text-books  which  have  borne  his  name." 


II. 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


Early  recollections  of  Mr.  Seward — He  meets  General 
Lafayette  and  Washington  Irving — Elected  Governor 
of  New  York — Fails  to  be  nominated  President — Sew- 
ard, Weed  and  Greely — Receives  John  Quincy  Adams 
— General  Taylor  advised — Solomon  Northrup  kid- 
napped— Murder  of  the  Van  Nest  family — Eloquent 
defense  of  William  Freeman — Gladstone’s  compli- 
ment— Irrepressible  conflict  and  higher  law — Anecdotes 
— J.  G.  Whittier’s  poetical  tribute — Author  appointed 
XT.  S.  dispatch  agent — Attempted  assassination  of 
Mr.  Seward — Dr.  Verdi’s  thrilling  account — Interest- 
ing  anecdotes — Wonder  fid  journey  around  the  world — 
Mr.  Seward’s  Death — His  Monument  in  Madison 
Square. 

O HOTTLD  I dwell  longer  on  this  record  of  my  recollec- 
^ tions  of  William  H.  Seward,  than,  perhaps,  that  of 
any  other  person  of  whom  I may  write,  it  is  because  I knew 
him  so  well  in  my  boyhood  days,  my  early  manhood  and 
later  years.  He  was  my  life-long  friend  and  patron,  and  I 
do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  I owe  more  to  his  kindness  and 
friendship  than  to  any  other  man  I ever  knew. 

In  the  year  in  which  I was  apprenticed  to  Mr.  Ivison, 
Mr.  Seward  had  formed  a partnership  in  law  with  Nelson 
Beardsley,  under  the  firm  name  of  Seward  & Beardsley. 
At  that  time  I was  but  fifteen  years  of  age.  I well  remem- 
ber the  little  white  building,  with  green  blinds,  on  South 
Street,  where  they  had  their  law  office.  It  was  only  one 
story  in  height,  without  any  attempt  at  ornament  or  dis- 
[56] 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


57 


play.  Wood  stoves  were  used  to  heat  the  building,  as  in 
those  days  the  use  of  coal  and  steam  for  heating  purposes 
was  unknown  in  that  locality. 

Mr.  Beardsley  retired  from  the  practice  of  law  many 
years  since,  in  order  to  devote  himself  to  his  large  finan- 
cial interests,  and  his  duties  at  the  Cayuga  County  National 
Bank,  of  which  he  has  been  president  for  more  than  forty 
years.  Mr.  Beardsley  was  at  one  time  a special  partner 
of  mine  in  connection  with  Dr.  Sylvester  Willard  of  the 
same  city.  They  are  still  living  at  Auburn,  two  of  the 
wealthiest  and  most  respected  of  its  citizens.  They  have 
been  my  steadfast  friends  for  more  than  half  a century. 

Mr.  Seward,  although  a young  man,  had  just  served  a 
term  as  State  Senator  at  Albany,  and  returned  to  Auburn, 
where  he  resumed  his  practice.  It  was  about  this  time 
that  he  delivered  an  eloquent  eulogy  on  General  Lafayette, 
whom  he  had  met  the  year  previous  in  Paris. 

In  his  autobiography  Mr.  Seward  speaks  of  his  last  in- 
terview with  Lafayette,  which  occurred  in  1833,  as  fol- 
lows : 

“I  took  my  leave  of  the  General  and  his  family  that 
night  at  ten  o'clock,  preparatory  to  a departure  at  six  the 
next  morning.  I was  surprised  while  taking  my  coffee  be- 
fore daylight,  by  a summons  to  his  bedroom,  where  I found 
him  in  a white  flannel  underdress,  engaged  with  his  corre- 
spondence, of  which  he  showed  me  a letter  which  he  had 
just  received  from  Madame  Malibran.  I said  to  him,  4 We 
constantly  cherish  a hope  that  you  will  come  back  to  the 
United  States.' 

44  4 My  dear  Sir,'  said  Lafayette,  4 it  would  make  me 
very  sad  to  think  I should  never  see  America  again,  but 
you  know  how  it  is.  I am  confined  to  France  for  two  or 
three  years  by  my  office  as  a member  of  the  House  of  Dep- 
uties ; and  in  that  time  what  may  happen  only  God 
knows  !'  With  these  words  he  threw  his  arms  around  me, 
and  kissing  me  affectionately,  bade  me  good-bye.  He  died 
during  the  next  year." 

3* 


58 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


Auburn  about  this  time  was  but  a village  of  some  5,000 
inhabitants  and  the  book  store  was  generally  the  resort  of 
cultivated  men  of  the  stamp  of  Mr.  Seward.  As  a clerk 
there  I often  waited  upon  him,  especially  when  any  new  or 
important  book  was  received  and  appeared  for  sale. 

Cooper's  novels,  especially  the  “ Last  of  the  Mohicans” 
and  “ The  Spy,”  the  Waverly  novels  and  the  new  volumes 
by  Washington  Irving,  were  the  books  most  sought  after 
among  the  current  literature  of  the  day.  Mr.  Seward's 
purchases,  however,  were  of  books  of  the  more  solid  kind — 
the  classics,  history  and  law  books.  The  young  men  who 
were  interested  in  politics  gathered  around  him  with  much 
devotion  as  their  leader.  In  those  days  parties  were  classi- 
fied as  Whigs  and  Loco-Focos.  Mr.  Seward  had  received 
the  nomination  for  Governor  in  the  year  1834  ; he  was  de- 
feated, however,  by  William  L.  Marcy.  He  was  nomi- 
nated again  for  the  same  office  in  1838,  and  elected  over 
Governor  Marcy  by  a majority  of  over  10,000.  The  elec- 
tion was  a very  exciting  one,  and  as  we  had  no  railroads 
or  telegraphs,  it  was  some  days  before  the  result  could  be 
positively  ascertained. 

Although  not  of  age,  and  consequently  not  a voter  my- 
self, I was  nevertheless  very  much  interested  in  the  success 
of  the  Whigs.  On  the  Friday  night  succeeding  the  three 
days'  election  which  began  on  Tuesday,  myself  with  other 
of  Mr.  Seward’s  neighbors  and  friends,  was  with  him  in 
the  office  of  the  Auburn  Journal , the  Whig  organ  of  the 
county.  All  were  waiting  with  much  anxiety  for  the  re- 
turns from  the  counties  in  western  New  York,  or,  as  the 
phrase  went,  ‘‘the  returns  from  over  Cayuga  bridge.”  They 
were  at  last  received  by  special  messenger,  assuring  Mr. 
Seward's  election  as  Governor  beyond  all  doubt.  I can  well 
recall  the  expression  Mr.  Seward  used  as  he  read  the  mes- 
sage, “ God  bless  Thurlow  Weed  ! I owe  this  result  to 
him.” 

The  Whig  paper  issued  an  extra  headed  : “ Go  ring 
the  bells  and  fire  the  guns  and  fling  the  starry  banner  out. 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


59 


the  Empire  State  is  redeemed.”  A procession  of  the  friends 
of  the  then  newly  elected  Governor  called  upon  him  at  his 
residence.  A hundred  guns  were  fired  on  successive  days 
as  the  returns  from  different  parts  of  the  State  increased 
his  majority,  and  thus  William  H.  Seward  became  Gover- 
nor of  the  Empire  State  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-seven, 
being  the  youngest  Governor  ever  elected  in  the  State. 

Mr.  Seward  was  again  elected  Governor  in  1840,  at  the 
time  General  Harrison  was  elected  President.  I had  just 
become  a voter,  and,  like  many  young  Whigs,  was  in- 
strumental in  organizing  glee  clubs,  where  campaign  songs 
were  sung.  The  most  popular  of  these,  which  was  sung 
at  all  the  Whig  conventions,  was  the  following  : 

“ What  has  caused  this  great  Commotion, 

Motion,  motion  ? 

Our  country  through  ? 

It  is  the  ball  a-rolling  on — 

chorus  : 

“For  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler,  too, 

For  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler,  too. 

And  with  them  we’ll  beat  little  Van, 

Van,  Van,  Van  is  a used-up  man; 

And  with  them  we’ll  beat  little  Van.” 


“ Who  shall  we  have  for  our  Governor, 

Governor,  Governor  ? 

Who,  tell  me,  who  ? 

Let’s  have  Bill  Seward,  for  he’s  a team. 

“For  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler,  too,  etc.” 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Seward's  term  as  Governor,  he  again 
resumed  his  law  practice  in  Auburn. 

In  the  year  1843,  the  Venerable  John  Quincy  Adams, 
who  had  been  President  of  the  United  States  before  Andrew 


60 


WILLIAM  II.  SEWARD. 


Jackson,  came  to  Auburn  to  visit  Mr.  Seward.  On  hia 
arrival  he  was  escorted  to  the  Seward  residence  by  a large 
gathering  of  the  people,  including  those  from  neighboring 
towns.  The  speech  of  welcome  as  delivered  by  Mr.  Seward, 
which  I remember,  was  a most  eloquent  one,  Mr.  Adams 
being  evidently  much  affected  by  the  reception  tendered 
him  and  the  feeling  of  affection  manifested  by  those  around 
him. 

As  is  well  known  John  Quincy  Adams,  although  an 
Ex-President  of  the  United  States,  was  again  elected  to 
Congress.  While  serving  in  that  office  he  was  suddenly 
stricken  down  in  the  very  act  of  rising  in  debate.  He  died 
shortly  after,  his  last  words  being  : “ This  is  the  last  of 
earth.  I am  content.” 

Mr.  Seward  was  invited  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State 
of  Hew  York  to  deliver  a Eulogy  on  the  deceased  Ex- 
President  before  that  body.  He  accepted  the  invitation 
and  delivered  his  oration  in  the  State  Capitol  at  Albany. 
It  is  a singular  circumstance — indeed  a striking  coinci- 
dence— that  a quarter  of  a century  later,  Charles  Francis 
Adams,  the  son  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  was  also  invited 
by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Hew  York  to  deliver  a 
Eulogy  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Seward,  to  which  eloquent  ad- 
dress, it  was  my  privilege  to  listen. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Adams,  I proposed  to  Mr. 
Seward  to  write  for  publication,  a life  of  John  Quincy 
Adams.  Although  much  engrossed  in  legal  business  he 
accepted  my  offer  and  undertook  the  work.  He  wap  greatly 
assisted  in  its  production  by  the  Rev.  John  M.  Austin,  a 
writer  of  several  popular  books,  and  in  whom  Mr.  Seward 
had  the  utmost  confidence.  The  work  reached  a sale  of 
over  40,000  copies.  This  was  one  of  my  earlier  successes  as 
a publisher  of  that  class  of  books. 

Booksellers  throughout  the  State  of  Hew  York  became 
very  much  interested  in  the  passage  by  the  Legislature  of  a 
measure,  in  the  year  1841,  relative  to  libraries  for  the  public 
schools,  which  had  been  recommended  by  Governor  Seward, 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


61 


The  sum  of  155,000  was  to  be  annually  appropriated  for 
five  years,  provided  each  school  district  where  the  appro- 
priation was  allowed,  raised  an  amount  equal  to  that  ap- 
portioned to  them  by  the  State. 

The  act  was  passed,  and  became  a rich  harvest  for  Messrs. 
Harper  and  Bros.,  then,  as  now,  the  leading  publishers  in 
this  country.  They  issued  from  their  press  with  great 
rapidity,  over  two  hundred  volumes,  in  the  various  depart- 
ments of  science,  history,  biography  and  travels,  especially 
designed  for  school  libraries.  As  an  equal  sum  was  raised 
by  each  school  district,  the  amount  disbursed  was  an  inter- 
esting item  to  booksellers  in  those  days. 

During  Mr.  Seward's  administration  as  Governor,  the 
legislature  also  enacted  a law  on  his  recommendation  to  es- 
tablish a depository  for  the  preservation  of  specimens 
illustrative  of  the  natural  history  of  the  State. 

The  Geological  Survey  which  was  made  in  accordance 
with  the  provisions  of  this  law,  saved  the  people,  Mr. 
Seward  said,  millions  of  dollars  in  proving  that  there  were 
no  coal  regions  in  New  York  State,  thus  preventing  ex- 
pensive explorations  and  useless  mining. 

Another  result  of  the  Geological  Survey  was  the  pub- 
lication of  thirteen  large  quarto  volumes  to  which  Mr. 
Seward  prepared  an  elaborate  introduction  which  he  called 
“ Notes  on  New  York,"  somewhat  after  the  plan  of  Jeffer- 
son’s “ Notes  on  Virginia."  This  historical  essay  is  written 
in  a style  of  admirable  clearness  and  abounds  in  valuable 
information.*  He  was  greatly  aided  in  the  preparation  of 
this  State  paper  by  his  private  Secretaries,  Samuel  Blatcli- 
ford,  then  of  Albany,  and  Henry  Underwood  of  Auburn. 
The  former  was  afterwards  Mr.  Seward's  law-partner,  and 
at  present  an  associate  justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court  at  Washington. 

In  the  years  1847-8  the  whole  country  ~was  electrified  by 

* See  Seward’s  Works,  lately  published  by  Houghton,  Mifflin  & 
Co.,  in  5 vols. 


62 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


the  brilliant  war  victories  achieved  by  General  Taylor,  over 
the  Mexican  forces.  He  became  immensely  popular  with 
the  people,  and  was  early  considered  the  most  available 
Whig  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  Mr.  Seward  favoring 
his  nomination.  He  was  elected  over  General  Cass,  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  the  same  honor.  At  that  time, 
Mr.  Seward  represented  New  York  State  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  and  became  the  chief  adviser  of  the  new 
President.  Immediately  after  the  termination  of  the 
Mexican  war,  my  firm  engaged  the  services  of  Henry 
Montgomery,  then  editor  of  the  Auburn  Morning  Journal , 
to  write  a biography  of  General  Zachary  Taylor,  or  “ Old 
Rough  and  Ready,”  as  he  was  called  by  his  admirers.  This 
book,  which  was  a stirring  account  of  the  GeneraPs  brave 
achievements,  became  very  popular,  and  had  an  extensive 
sale,  receiving  the  approval  of  the  latter  and  friends.  Soon 
after  the  inauguration  of  General  Taylor,  it  was  my  good 
fortune  to  have  the  pleasure  of  his  acquaintance,  through 
the  kindness  of  Mr.  Seward,  who  presented  me  to  the 
President  one  day  at  the  White  House.  I was  also  most 
fortunate  in  this  visit  to  Washington  in  seeing  and  hearing 
for  the  last  time,  those  great  men,  Henry  Clay,  John  0. 
Calhoun,  and  Daniel  Webster.  Mr.  Caihoun  died  a year 
after,  and  the  other  two  illustrious  statesmen  two  years 
later. 

While  Mr.  Seward  was  Governor  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  a law  was  enacted  on  his  recommendation  for  the 
recovery  of  colored  citizens  of  the  State,  kidnapped  into 
slavery.  It  was  under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  that  in 
January,  1853,  H.  B.  Northrup,^of  Washington  County, 
N.  Y.,  procured  the  liberty  of  Solomon,  a colored  man, 
formerly  living  as  a member  of  his  family,  who  twelve  years 
previous  had  been  inveigled  to  the  City  of  Washington  and 
there  kidnapped  and  sold  into  slavery. 

Although  a freeman,  Solomon  was  sold  under  the 
hammer  by  slave-traders  and  taken  south  as  far  as  Louisi- 
ana. His  whereabouts  were  providentially  discovered  and 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


63 


immediate  measures  were  taken  to  restore  him  to  freedom. 
On  his  return  north,  by  the  aid  of  his  former  employer,  he 
prepared  a narrative,  relating  to  his  twelve  years  of  cap- 
tivity, under  the  title  of  “ Twelve  Years  a Slave,”  by 
Solomon  Northrup. 

This  book  was  brought  out  by  my  firm,  and  Solomon's 
thrilling  experiences  caused  quite  a sensation  among  the 
reading  community,  the  book  meeting  with  a rapid  and 
large  sale. 

Another  important  book  published  by  Derby  & Miller 
about  that  time  was  entitled — “The  Trial  of  William  Free- 
man, reported  and  edited  by  Hon.  B.  F.  Hall.” 

It  will  be  pertinent  to  my  subject  to  mention  this  trial, 
giving  a brief  synopsis  of  the  facts  in  the  case,  which  will 
show  to  my  readers  how  strongly  the  character  of  William 
H.  Seward  partook  of  those  higher  qualities  of  true  man- 
hood which  are  seldom  found  among  men. 

William  Freeman  atone  time,  previous  to  the  perpe- 
tration of  the  horrible  deed  described  below,  had  been  com- 
mitted to  jail,  charged  with  horse-theft,  and  being  con- 
victed, was  sentenced  to  the  State  prison  for  the  term  of 
five  years,  although  it  was  subsequently  proved  he  was 
entirely  innocent  of  the  act.  The  boy,  knowing  his  inno- 
cence, and  smarting  under  his  unjust  incarceration,  was 
not  a willing  prisoner,  and  consequently  was  frequently 
punished  for  his  disobedience.  It  was  on  one  of  these 
occasions  that  lie  was  brutally  struck  on  the  head  with 
a piece  of  board  in  the  hands  of  one  of  the  keepers.  This 
cruel  treatment  evidently  affected  his  reason  to  some 
extent,  or,  to  use  his  own  description,  “knocked  all  the 
hearing  off,  so  it  never  came  back  again.”  That  blow,  no 
doubt,  was  the  indirect  cause  of  the  horrible  butchery  of 
the  Yan  Nest  family,  which  occurred  a short  time  after  the 
prisoner's  discharge  from  the  State  prison. 

As  soon  as  his  term  of  imprisonment  expired,  he  was 
permitted  to  go  at  large.  Some  time  afterwards  he  visited 
the  home  of  the  Yan  Nests,  asking  them  for  pay  for  five  years' 


64 


WILLIAM  H,  SEWARD. 


work.  Having  had  nothing  to  do  with  his  imprisonment, 
and  not  owing  him  the  money,  they  naturally  refused  to 
accede  to  his  strange  demand.  He  departed  much  incensed 
at  their  refusal.  That  same  day  he  sharpened  a large 
carving-knife,  and  fastening  it  to  the  end  of  a long  pole, 
returned  at  night  to  the  Van  Nest  farm-house,  just  as  the 
family  were  about  preparing  to  retire.  Meeting  them  one 
by  one  as  he  entered  the  dwelling,  he  stabbed  five  in  turn 
to  death,  and  then  fled  the  county,  escaping  on  one  of  the 
horses,  which  he  took  from  the  stable.  He  was  found  in 
Oswego  County,  about  forty  miles  distant,  and  conveyed 
back  to  Auburn,  where  he  was  met  by  a mob  that  had 
assembled  to  mete  out  summary  vengeance  upon  the  prepe- 
trator  of  such  diabolical  work.  Being  at  that  time  a per- 
sonal friend  of  the  sheriff,  I assisted  him  in  arranging  for 
the  safety  of  the  colored  boy,  by  taking  him,  by  a back 
entrance,  into  the  County  Jail.  The  prisoner  thus,  by  a 
ruse,  escaped  death  at  the  hands  of  the  infuriated  throng, 
though  I was  necessarily  locked  up  with  him.  To  my 
question  why  he  had  committed  the  dreadful  deeds,  he 
simply  replied,  “ I wanted  my  pay.”  After  the  mob  had 
dispersed,  the  sheriff  released  me  from  my  voluntary  im- 
prisonment. The  trial  of  this  negro  was  conducted  by 
John  Van  Buren,  Attorney- General  of  the  State,  for  the 
prosecution,  and  William  II.  Seward  appeared  for  the  de- 
fense, without  fee  or  reward,  thus  consuming  his  valuable 
time,  as  it  then  seemed,  to  no  purpose. 

Mr.  Seward  early  became  satisfied  that  Freeman  was 
an  irresponsible  person,  and  notwithstanding  the  indig- 
nation which  the  people  would  and  did  visit  upon  him, 
he  decided  to  act  as  was  natural  to  him — on  the  side  of 
humanity.  This  determination  on  his  part  caused  the  ut- 
most excitement.  He  was  denounced  publicly  and  pri- 
vately, and  his  friends,  including  Thurlow  Weed,  remon- 
strated with  him,  saying  that  to  attempt  the  defense  was 
but  to  incur  public  odium.  But  all  in  vain ; he  was  deter- 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWAKD. 


65 


mined  to  do  his  duty.  In  a letter  to  Thurlow  Weed,  dated 
Auburn,  May  29,  1846,  he  says  : 

“There  is  a busy  war  around  me,  to  drive  me  from  defending 
and  securing  a fair  trial  for  the  negro  Freeman.  People  now  rejoice 
that  they  did  not  lynch  him,  but  they  have  all  things  prepared  for 
nn  auto-da-fe,  with  the  solemnities  of  a mock  trial.  No  priest  (except 
one  Universalist*)  no  Levite,  no  lawyer,  no  man,  no  woman,  has  vis- 
ited him.  He  is  deaf,  deserted,  ignorant,  and  his  conduct  is  unex- 
plainable on  any  principle  of  sanity.  It  is  natural  that  he  should 
turn  to  me  to  defend  him.  If  he  does,  I shall  do  so.  This  will  raise 
a storm  of  prejudice  and  passion,  which  will  try  the  fortitude  of  my 
friends.  But  I shall  do  my  duty.  I care  not  whether  I am  ever  to 
be  forgiven  for  it  or  not.” 

Mr.  Seward,  actuated  by  the  highest  motives  govern- 
ing humanity,  closed  his  most  remarkable  defense  by  an 
address  to  the  jury,  which,  as  a specimen  of  forensic  elo- 
quence has  seldom  if  ever  been  surpassed. 

Soon  after  Charles  Sumner's  return  from  Europe  in 
1849,  at  a gathering  of  some  of  his  friends  in  Boston,  he 
spoke  of  William  E.  Gladstone,  then  the  coming  man  in 
Great  Britain,  as  the  most  accomplished  orator  in  Europe. 
Mr.  Sumner  said  he  heard  Mr.  Gladstone  give  his  opinion 
of  Mr.  Seward’s  argument  in  the  Freeman  defense  as 
follows:  “Mr.  Seward’s  argument  in  the  Freeman  case  is 
the  greatest  forensic  effort  in  the  English  language.”  An 
English  gentleman  present  replied:  “The  greatest?  Mr. 
Gladstone,  you  forget  Erskine.”  “No,”  replied  Glad- 
stone, “ I do  not  forget  Mr.  Erskine.  I repeat,  Mr. 
Seward’s  argument  is  the  greatest  forensic  effort  in  the 
English  language.” 

The  following  extracts  are  from  Mr.  Seward’s  defense 
of  William  Freeman: 

“ For  William  Freeman  as  a murderer  I have  no  commission  to 
speak.  If  he  had  silver  and  gold  accumulated  with  the  frugality  of 
Croesus,  and  should  pour  it  at  all  my  feet,  I would  not  stand  an  hour 


* Rev.  John  M.  Austin. 


66 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


between  him  and  the  avenger.  But  for  the  innocent  it  is  my  right, 
my  duty  to  speak.  If  this  sea  of  blood  was  innocently  shed,  then  it 
is  my  duty  to  stand  beside  him  nutil  his  steps  lose  their  hold  upon 
the  scaffold. 

***** 

“ I should  be  guilty  of  murder  if  in  my  present  relation  I saw  the 
executioner  waiting  for  an  insane  man,  and  failed  to  say,  or  failed  to 
do  in  his  behalf  all  that  my  ability  allowed.  I think  it  has  been  proved 
of  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  that  during  all  this  long  and  tedious  trial 
he  has  had  no  sleepless  nights,  and  that  even  in  the  day-time  when 
he  retires  from  these  halls  to  his  lonely  cell,  he  sinks  to  rest  like  a 
wearied  child  on  the  stone  floor,  and  quietly  slumbers  till  roused  by 
the  constable  with  his  staff,  to  appear  again  before  the  jury.  His 
counsel  enjoy  no  such  repose.  Their  thoughts  by  day  and  their 
dreams  by  night  are  filled  with  oppressive  apprehension  that  through 
their  inability  or  neglect  he  may  be  condemned.  I am  arraigned 
before  you  for  undue  manifestations  of  zeal  and  excitement.  My 
answer  to  all  such  charges  shall  be  brief.  When  this  cause  shall  have 
been  committed  to  you  I shall  be  happy  indeed  if  it  shall  appear  that 
my  only  error  has  been  that  I have  felt  too  much,  thought  too 
intensely  or  acted  too  faithfully. 

***** 

“I plead  not  for  a murderer.  I have  no  inducement,  no  motive  to 
do  so.  I have  addressed  my  fellow  citizens  in  many  various  rela- 
tions when  rewards  of  wealth  and  fame  awaited  me.  I have  been 
cheered  on  other  occasions  by  manifestations  of  popular  approbation 
and  sympathy,  and  wThere  there  was  no  such  encouragement  I had  at 
least  the  gratitude  of  him  whose  cause  I defended.  But  I speak  now 
in  the  hearing  of  a people  who  have  prejudged  the  prisoner,  and  con- 
demned me  for  pleading  in  his  behalf.  He  is  a convict,  a pauper,  a 
negro,  without  intellect,  sense  or  emotion.  My  child  with  an  affec- 
tionate smile,  disarms  my  careworn  face  of  its  frown  whenever  I 
cross  my  threshold.  The  beggar  in  the  street  obliges  me  to  give, 
because  he  says — ‘God  bless  you,’ as  I pass.  My  dog  caresses  me 
with  fondness  if  I will  but  smile  on  him.  My  horse  recognizes  me 
when  I fill  his  manger.  But  what  reward,  what  gratitude,  what 
sympathy  can  I expect  here  ? There  the  prisoner  sits.  Look  at  him. 
Look  at  the  assemblage  around  you.  Listen  to  their  ill  suppressed 
censures  and  their  excited  fears  and  tell  me  where  among  my  neigh- 
bors or  my  fellow-men,  where  even  in  his  heart,  I can  expect  to  find 
the  sentiment,  the  thought,  not  to  say  of  reward  or  of  acknowledg- 
ment, but  even  of  recognition.  I sat  here  two  weeks  during  the  pre- 
liminary trial.  I stood  here  between  the  prisoner  and  the  jury  nine 
hours,  and  pleaded  for  the  wretch  that  he  was  insane  and  did  not 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


67 


even  know  he  was  on  trial,  and  when  all  was  done,  the  jury  thought, — 
at  least  eleven  of  them  thought, — that  I had  been  deceiving  them  or 
was  self-deceived.  They  read  signs  of  intelligence  in  his  idiotic 
smile  and  of  cunning  and  malice  in  his  stolid  insensibility.  They 
read  a verdict  that  he  was  sane  enough  to  be  tried — a contemptible 
compromise  verdict  in  a capital  case,  and  then  they  looked  on,  with 
what  emotions  God  and  they  only  know,  upon  his  arraignment.  The 
District  Attorney,  speaking  in  his  adder  ear,  bade  him  rise,  and 
reading  to  him  one  indictment  asked  him  whether  he  wanted  a trial, 
and  the  poor  fool  answered  : ‘ No.’  Have  you  counsel  ? ‘ No.’  And 
they  went  through  the  same  mockery,  the  prisoner  giving  the  same 
answers,  until  a third  indictment  was  thundered  in  his  ears,  and  he 
stood  before  the  court  silent,  motionless  and  bewildered.  Gentle- 
men, you  may  think  of  this  evidence  what  you  please,  bring  in  what 
verdict  you  can,  but  I asseverate  before  Heaven  and  you  that  to  the 
best  of  my  knowledge  and  belief,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  does  not  at 
this  moment  know  why  it  is  that  my  shadow  falls  on  you  instead  of 
his  own.” 

The  prisoner,  however,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of 
his  eloquent  defender,  was  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to 
be  hanged.  Subsequently,  the  former  judgment  having 
been  set  aside  by  the  Supreme  Court,  a new  trial  was 
granted,  and  Mr.  Seward  was  to  have  appeared  for  the 
prisoner  again,  but  before  the  new  trial  had  been  commenced 
Freeman  was  visited  by  the  Circuit  Judge  who  tried  him, 
and  examined  with  reference  to  his  mental  condition,  in 
order  to  determine  the  propriety  of  a second  trial  before 
the  court. 

The  prisoner  was  found  to  be  in  a gradual  decline  of 
health  and  strength,  and  as  unconcerned  regarding  his  fate 
as  when  upon  trial  for  his  life.  The  judge  then  declined 
to  re-open  the  case  ; the  prisoner  was  never  retried,  and  died 
shortly  after. 

After  his  death  a post-mortem  examination  was  called 
for  by  the  whole  community,  as  those  who  believed  in  his 
guilt  as  a responsible  being  were  anxious  to  know  the  real 
truth  of  the  case,  which  medical  science  alone  could  reveal. 
Dr.  A.  Brigham,  the  State  Superintendent  of  the  Lunatic 
Asylum  at  Utica,  being  summoned  after  the  autopsy,  gave 


68 


WILLIAM  II.  SEWARD. 


an  elaborate  opinion,  of  which  the  following  is  a brief  ex- 
tract : 

“ His  appearance  since  liis  trial  has  been  that  of  a person  nearly 
bereft  of  his  intellect.  I saw  him  the  last  week  in  June,  and  found 
him  more  demented  than  he  was  the  year  previous.  During  the  trial 
he  was  almost  totally  deaf  and  speechless,  and  apparently  affected  by 
general  paralysis.  Never  scarcely  have  1 seen  such  a mere  fragment 
of  humanity,  so  far  as  mind  was  concerned.  At  the  time  of  the  trial 
of  Freeman,  I was  confident  that  he  was  insane  and  that  the  heinous 
crime  he  committed  was  the  consequence  of  mental  derangement.  I 
can  now  have  no  rational  doubt  of  the  correctness  of  that  opinion.” 

Dr.  Blanchard  Fosgate,  of  Auburn,  himself  an  author 
and  a writer  of  a volume  on  the  Philosophy  of  the  Mind, 
well  says  in  a letter  : 

“ How  much  the  cause  of  justice  and  philosophy  is  indebted  to 
the  unwearied  perseverance  of  the  eminent  advocate,  who  withstood 
the  tide  of  popular  indignation  in  conducting  the  prisoner’s  defense, 
is  left  for  other  hands  to  register  ; but  true  it  is,  that  over  prejudice 
and  error,  science  has  gloriously  triumphed,  saving  in  this  instance 
by  its  generous  application,  the  life  of  an  unaccountable  agent  from 
sacrifice.” 

Two  of  Mr.  Seward’s  most  famous  expressions  are  those 
known  as  “The  Irrepressible  Conflict”  and  “The  Higher 
Law.”  One  contained  in  a speech  delivered  before  the 
United  States  Senate  in  the  year  1850  ; the  other  in  an  ad- 
dress at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  1858. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  both  these  sentiments  had  been 
used  on  some  previous  occasion,  and  were  therefore  not 
original  with  Mr.  Seward ; but  it  is  not  generally  known 
that  he  uttered  the  same  expressions  in  speeches  made,  one 
at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  October  26th,  1848,  in  which  he  says  : 

“ There  are  two  antagonistical  elements  of  society  in  America — 
freedom  and  slavery.  Freedom  is  in  harmony  with  our  system  of 
government  and  with  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  is,  therefore,  passive 
and  quiescent.  Slavery  is  in  conflict  with  that  system,  with  justice 
and  with  humanity,  and  is,  therefore,  organized,  defensive,  active, 
and  perpetually  aggressive.” 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


69 


Although  this  speech  was  delivered  during  the  cam- 
paign of  1848,  while  General  Taylor  was  running  for  the 
Presidency,  the  bitter  attacks  on  the  sentiments  as  quoted 
were  not  made  until  he  delivered  his  Rochester  speech  in 
1858,  when  the  Democratic  papers  attacked  him  bitterly. 

Again,  in  a letter  written  from  Albany,  March,  1840, 
he  asks  : “ Why  should  an  American  hate  foreigners  ?” 
Then  says:  “For  myself,  so  far  from  hating  any  of  my 
fellow  citizens,  I should  shrink  from  myself  if  I did  not 
recognize  them  all  as  worthy  of  my  constant  solicitude,  to 
promote  their  welfare  and  entitled  of  right  by  the  Consti- 
tution and  laws  and  by  the  higher  law  of  God  himself  to 
equal  rights,  equal  privileges,  and  equal  political  favor  as 
citizens  of  the  State  with  myself. ” 

The  famous  so-called  “Higher  Law  Speech”  was  made  by 
Mr.  Seward,  March  11,  1850,  on  the  admission  of  California 
to  the  Union.  Although  the  same  sentiment  was  expressed 
in  1840,  it  then  attracted  but  little  attention,  as  the  ques- 
tion of  slavery  had  not  been  agitated.  The  following  are 
the  words  which  produced  such  a sensation  throughout  the 
country,  and  for  which  Mr.  Seward  was  condemned  by  all 
the  pro-slavery  journals  and  politicians.  “ But  there  is  a 
higher  law  than  the  Constitution  which  regulates  our 
authority  over  the  domain,  and  devotes  it  to  the  same  noble 
purpose.”  The  anti- slavery  people,  more  especially  among 
the  Methodist  churches,  sustained  Mr.  Seward.  The  Rev. 
Wm.  Hosmer,  editor  of  the  Northern  Christian  Advocate, 
was  the  author  of  a volume  entitled,  “ The  Higher  Law,”  in 
which  he  sustains  the  position  taken  by  Mr.  Seward.  The 
volume  was  well  received,  especially  among  the  denomina- 
tion to  which  Mr.  Hosmer  belonged. 

Mr.  John  W.  Forney,  in  his  Anecdotes  of  Public  Men, 
says : “ I heard  an  anecdote  of  Mr.  Seward's  patient 
temperament  a few  days  ago,  that  deserves  mentioning. 
In  June  of  1856,  after  Preston  S.  Brooks  committed  his 
brutal  assault  on  Charles  Sumner,  Mrs.  Seward  was  ex- 
ceedingly anxious  for  the  safety  of  her  husband,  and  ad- 


70 


WILLIAM  II.  SEWARD 


vised  him  to  protect  himself.  “Well,  my  dear,”  was  the 
answer,  “ what  shall  I do?  I am  a man  of  peace  ; I 
never  reply  to  personal  attacks.  How  am  I to  defend  my- 
self ? Shall  I go  to  the  Senate  with  a musket  or  rifle  on 
my  shoulder  ? If  I use  pistols,  I am  sure  you  will  not  ask 
me  to  shoot  anybody  without  notice.  You  say  no.  Well 
then,  it  will  be  my  duty,  if  I carry  revolvers,  to  lay  them 
on  my  Senatorial  desk  so  that  all  men  may  see  that  I am 
ready  to  kill  anybody  at  a moment's  notice.  I think  this 
is  my  best  weapon,”  he  said,  as  he  closed  the  interview  and 
picked  up  a whip  he  carried  as  a metaphorical  help  to  the 
old  horse  that  carried  him  to  the  Capitol. 

Ex-Senator  G-win,  of  California,  tells  the  following  anec- 
dote of  Mr.  Seward,  which  illustrates  his  power  at  the  din- 
ner-table : 

“ When  Seward  came  into  the  Senate,  I also  entered 
there.  It  was  about  the  year  1850.  He  was  re-elected, 
and  so  was  I.  Ho  was  very  much  disliked  in  the  Senate, 
when  I found  him  there,  as  an  Abolitionist. 

“ Seward  said  to  me  one  day  when  we  were  trying  to  get 
tli rough  some  measures  for  the  development  of  California, 

‘ Mr.  Gwin,  I want  you  to  invite  me  to  dinner  at  your 
house  with  your  leading  Southern  senators/ 

“ ‘ I said,  ‘ Seward,  I'm  afraid  they  won't  come.' 

“ ‘ Oh  yes,'  said  he,  f they  will  if  you  invite  them. 
When  we  get  at  your  table,  I will  manage  them.' 

“I  went  to  Butler,  of  South  Carolina,  and  to  other 
Senators  and  said,  f I want  you  to  come  to  my  house  to 
dinner,  and  Seward  is  going  to  be  there  too/ 

“ They  came,  and  it  was  wonderful  to  see  how  that  little 
fellow  Seward  managed  that  table.  I never  saw  his  equal 
at  a dinner-table.” 

“ He  could  tell  tales  that  would  make  everybody  laugh, 
and  a good  many  of  them  were  about  himself.  He  would 
reflect  on  himself.  In  point  of  fact,  Seward  was  a wonder- 
ful man,  both  as  a table  companion  and  as  a student.” 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  formally  notified  of  his 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


71 


election  as  President  of  the  United  States,  lie  offered  to  Mr. 
Seward  the  chief  position  in  his  Cabinet,  that  of  Secretary 
of  State,  which  was  accepted.  At  the  Chicago  Convention 
which  nominated  Mr.  Lincoln,  Mr.  Seward  received  the 
largest  number  of  votes  on  the  first  ballot.  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  finally  nominated  and  subsequently  elected. 

Hon.  William  M.  Evarts,  chairman  of  the  Hew  York 
delegation,  made  on  that  occasion  the  following  eloquent 
address,  which  well  represented  the  feelings  of  the  Repub- 
licans of  the  Empire  State  : 

“ The  State  of  New  York  by  a full  delegation  with  complete 
unanimity  of  purpose  at  home,  came  to  this  convention  and  present- 
ed to  its  choice,  one  of  its  citizens  who  had  served  the  state  from 
boj^hood  up,  who  had  labored  for  and  loved  it.  We  came  from  a 
great  state  with  as  we  thought,  a great  statesman,  and  our  love  of 
the  great  republic  from  which  we  are  all  delegates,  the  great  Ameri- 
can Union,  and  our  love  of  the  great  Republican  party  of  the  Union 
and  our  love  of  our  statesman  and  candidate,  made  us  think  that  we 
did  our  duty  to  the  country  and  the  whole  country  in  expressing  our 
preference  for  him.  For  it  was  from  Gov.  Seward  that  most  of 
us  learned  to  love  republican  principles,  and  the  Republican  party. 
His  fidelity  to  the  country,  the  constitution  and  the  laws,  his  fidelity 
to  the  party  and  the  principle  that  the  majority  govern,  his  interest 
in  ihe  advancement  of  our  party  to  its  victory,  that  our  country  may 
rise  to  its  true  glory,  induces  me  to  assume  to  speak  his  sentiments 
as  I do  indeed  the  opinion  of  our  whole  delegation  when  I move  you 
as  I do  now  that  the  nomination  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illinois,  as 
the  Republican  candidate  for  the  suffrages  of  the  whole  country  for 
the  office  of  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  American  Union,  be  made 
unanimous.” 

The  disappointment  of  Mr.  Seward’s  friends  was  even 
greater  than  his,  in  the  failure  of  a nomination,  so  confi- 
dently expected  by  all.  The  following  is  a brief  response 
to  my  letter  to  him  : 

“ Auburn,  May  27th,  1860. 

“ My  Dear  Derby  : 

“ The  kindness  of  my  friends  overwhelms  me.  You  are  one  of 
the  earliest  and  most  constant  and  among  the  most  esteemed. 

“Faithfully, 

“ William  H.  Seward.” 


72 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWA11D. 


There  is  little  doubt  that  the  active  opposition  of  Hor- 
ace Greeley  caused  Mr.  Seward's  defeat.  The  former  had 
grievances,  which  were  set  forth  in  his  famous  letter  dis- 
solving the  firm. 

Mr.  Julius  J.  Wood,  an  old  and  devoted  friend  of  Mr. 
Seward's,  has  recently  told  me  that  the  latter  related  to 
him  the  occasion  of  the  receipt  of  the  celebrated  document 
known  as  the  Seward,  Weed  and  Greely  letter.  He  said 
that  Mr.  Seward,  after  reading  it,  told  his  wife  that  Mr. 
Greeley  was  in  a pet  ; that  he  was  dissatisfied  and  angry, 
but  that  he  would  get  over  it,  saying  which  he  threw  the 
letter  into  the  waste-basket ; but  Mrs.  Seward's  quiet  intel- 
ligence saw  that  it  meant  more  than  he  thought  and  she 
carefully  put  it  away  for  future  possible  reference. 

Mr.  Weed  first  saw  the  letter  in  the  New  York  Times , 
where  it  was  published  by  Mr.  Raymond,  who  had  called 
on  his  return  from  the  Chicago  Convention  and  made  a 
copy  of  the  celebrated  epistle,  so  carefully  preserved  by  Mrs. 
Seward. 

On  January  12,  preceding  the  inauguration,  Mr.  Seward, 
still  Senator  of  the  United  States,  and  being,  as  supposed,  the 
mouth-piece  of  the  incoming  administration,  made  that 
memorable  speech  in  the  Senate  “ On  the  state  of  the 
Union,"  which  created  a profound  impression  throughout 
the  country. 

He  commenced  as  follows  : “ I avow  my  adherence  to  the 
Union,  with  its  integrity  and  with  all  its  parts,  with  my 
friends,  with  my  party,  with  my  State,  with  my  country, 
or  without  either,  as  they  may  determine,  in  every  event, 
whether  of  peace  or  of  war,  with  every  consequence  of 
honor  or  dishonor,  of  life  or  death."  The  speech  closed 
with  these  words  : “ I certainly  shall  never,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, give  my  vote  to  establish  or  sanction  slavery  in  the 
common  territories  of  t'ie  United  States,  or  anywhere  else 
in  the  world." 

A writer  in  one  of  the  N.  Y.  papers  describes  the  scene 
as  follows  : 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWAKD. 


73 


“Mr.  Seward's  speech  was  the  event  of  the  week,  and  is  the  topic 
of  discussion  in  all  political  circles.  The  scene  before  and  during 
the  delivery  of  the  speech  was  almost  unparalleled  in  the  Senate.  By 
ten  o'clock  every  seat  in  the  galleries  was  filled,  and  by  eleven  the 
cloak-rooms  and  all  the  passages  were  choked  up  and  a thousand 
men  and  women  stood  outside  of  the  doors  waiting  to  catch  the 
words  of  the  speaker  when  he  should  commence.  Several  hundred 
gentlemen  came  on  from  Baltimore  to  hear  it,  and  the  curiosity 
among  all  the  Southern  men  here,  to  listen  to  it  was  intense.  The 
southern  Senators  and  Representatives  paid  the  utmost  attention  and 
the  galleries  were  as  quiet  as  their  suffocating  condition  would  war- 
rant. It  was  the  fullest  house  of  the  session  and  by  far  the  most 
respectful  one.  During  the  delivery  of  portions  of  the  speech,  Sena- 
tors were  in  tears,  when  the  sad  picture  of  the  country  divided  into 
two  confederacies  was  presented,  Mr.  Crittenden,  Senator  from  Ken- 
tucky, who  sat  immediately  before  the  Orator  was  completely  over- 
come by  his  emotion  and  bowed  his  white  head  and  wept.” 

The  following  glowing  tribute  by  Whittier,  indicates 
the  enthusiasm  which  this  speech  created  among  the  friends 
of  liberty,  throughout  the  country  : — 

TO  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

“ Statesman,  I thank  thee  ! — and  if  yet  dissent 
Mingles,  reluctant,  with  my  large  content, 

I cannot  censure,  what  was  nobly  meant. 

But,  while  constrained  to  hold  even  Union  less, 

Than  Liberty  and  Truth  and  Righteousness, 

I thank  thee  in  the  sweet  and  holy  name 
Of  peace,  for  wise  calm  words  that  put  to  shame 
Passion  and  party.  Courage  may  be  shown 
Not  in  defiance  of  the  wrong  alone  ; 

He  may  be  bravest  who,  unweaponed,  bears 
The  olive  branch,  and  strong  in  justice,  spares 
The  rash  wrong-doer,  giving  widest  scope 
To  Christian  charity  and  generous  hope, 

If,  without  damage  to  the  sacred  cause 
Of  freedom  and  the  safe-guard  of  its  laws — 

If  without  yielding  that  for  which  alone 
We  prize  the  Union,  thou  cans’t  save  it  now 
From  a baptism  of  blood,  upon  thy  brow 
A wreath  whose  flowers  no  earthly  soil  has  known, 

Woven  of  the  beatitudes,  shall  rest  ; 

And  the  peace-maker  be  forever  blest ! ” 

4 


74 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD, 


During  the  summer  of  1861,  I was  appointed  by  Mr. 
Seward,  Librarian  of  the  Department  of  State  at  Washing- 
ton, which  brought  me  into  confidential  relations  with  the 
Secretary.  While  filling  this  office,  he  frequently  intrusted 
me  with  important  despatches  to  our  ministers  abroad, 
which  I was  to  submit  to  Mr.  Lincoln  for  his  approval, 
before  they  were  forwarded  to  their  respective  destinations. 

I usually  called  on  the  President  for  this  purpose 
about  noon,  his  hour  for  luncheon,  and  was  at  such  times 
struck  at  the  simple  repast  of  a sandwich  and  a cup  of  tea, 
with  which  that  great  man  refreshed  himself,  while  looking 
over  the  despatches.  This  was  generally  done  in  a cursory 
manner.  Once  he  remarked  that  “ Mr.  Seward  knew  what 
was  the  right  thing  to  say,  and  how  to  say  it. " 

In  the  month  of  November,  1861,  Captain  Wilkes,  of 
the  U.  S.  steamer,  San  Jacinto,  intercepted  the  British 
mail  packet  boat,  Trent,  arresting  James  M.  Mason,  of 
Va.,  and  John  Slidell,  of  La.,  late  U.  S.  senators  from 
their  respective  states,  but  at  the  time  of  their  arrest, 
ambassadors  from  the  Confederate  States  to  England  and 
France.  The  captives  were  sent  to  Fort  Warren,  near 
Boston,  where  political  prisoners  were  confined.  When  the 
arrest  became  known  by  the  British  Government  prepara- 
tions for  war  were  at  once  made.  The  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  Gideon  Welles,  publicly  applauded  the  action  of 
Wilkes,  and  even  the  House  of  Bepresentatives  did  the 
same.  The  whole  country  was  elated  at  what  was  deemed 
an  important  capture.  Mr.  Seward,  on  the  contrary,  sail 
that  a great  blunder  had  been  committed,  and  resolved  that 
the  captives  should  be  returned  to  the  protection  of  the 
British  Flag. 

President  Lincoln  and  Charles  Sumner,  then  chairman 
of  the  Committee  of  Foreign  Relations,  both  concurred  in 
this  resolution  of  Mr.  Seward.  I first  learned  of  the  decis- 
ion of  the  Government  on  being  sent  for  by  the  Secretary 
to  read  with  him,  for  verification,  a copy  of  his  letter  to 
Lord  Lyons,  then  British  ambassador  to  this  country. 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


75 


Much  surprised  at  the  nature  of  the  despatch,  I quickty 
saw  the  wisdom  of  the  course  Mr.  Seward  intended  to  pursue. 

The  moneyed  interest  of  the  country  having  become 
alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  a war  with  Great  Britain,  gold 
hud  reached  a fabulous  figure. 

The  news  soon  spread  to  Wall  Street.  “ Bull  Run 
Russell/'’  as  the  correspondent  of  the  London  Times  was 
called,  telegraphed  to  a friend  in  New  York,  “Act  as 
though  you  heard  good  news.’*  Mr.  Russell  was  known  to 
be  on  intimate  terms  with  Lord  Lyons,  and,  as  a natural 
consequence,  received  the  earliest  information  concerning 
the  amicable  settlement  of,  perhaps,  the  most  formidable 
question  arising  with  any  foreign  government  during  the 
period  of  the  civil  war. 

On  the  7th  day  of  April,  1865,  I was  appointed  by  Mr. 
Seward  U.  S.  Despatch  Agent  at  New  York,  the  most  val- 
uable appointment  within  the  gift  of  the  Secretary  of  State. 
As  few  arc  aware  of  the  duties  of  such  an  office,  the  follow- 
ing extracts  from  the  letter  of  instructions  accompanying 
my  appointment  may  be  interesting. 

“Department  of  State,  Washington,  April  7th,  1865. 
“James  C.  Derby,  Esq., 

U.  S.  Despatch  Agent, 

New  York. 

“ Sir  : — 

“You  are  hereby  appointed  despatch  agent  of  the  department  at 
New  York.  . . . The  following  is  a statement  of  the  principal 

duties  pertaining  to  your  office  and  of  the  instructions  by  which  you 
will  be  governed  in  its  administration.  You  will  receive  from 
Europe,  the  East  and  from  South  America  all  despatches  or  other 
packages  directed  to  this  department  and  transmit  them  with  all 
possible  despatch  by  mail,  or  through  one  of  the  express  lines,  and 
will  attend  to  the  transmission  of  all  despatches  and  other  matter 
from  this  department  to  the  legations,  consuls  and  commercial  agents 
of  the  United  States  abroad.  . . . It  will  be  necessary  that  you 

should  make  an  arrangement  with  the  post-office  in  New  York,  by 
which  all  despatches  directed  to  your  care  may  be  delivered  to  you 
immediately  after  their  arrival,  that  no  loss  of  opportunity  may  occur 


76 


WILLIAM  II.  SEWARD. 


for  their  speedy  transmission  to  the  points  to  which  they  are  addres- 
sed, and  to  enable  you  to  be  punctual  in  the  discharge  of  this  par- 
ticular duty  it  will  be  necessary  for  you  to  keep  yourself  advised  of 
all  anticipated  departures  of  vessels,  so  that  advantage  may  be 
taken  of  the  earliest  opportunities.  You  will  keep  a tabular  state- 
ment of  all  matter  sent  to  you  from  this  department,  noting  the  date 
and  mode  of  transmission  and  take  monthly  returns  of  them  in  book 
form.  In  case  of  detention  of  the  steamers  or  packets  at  quarantine, 
the  despatches  are  to  be  sent  for  at  the  expense  of  the  department.  The 
despatches  from  the  department  consist  principally  of  communica- 
tions and  newspapers  to  the  Ministers,  Consuls  and  Commercial 
Agents  of  the  United  States  abroad.  . . . It  is  highly  important 

that  the  department  should  receive  the  despatches,  as  early  as  prac- 
ticable, after  their  arrival,  and  you  will  adopt  such  means  as  will 
enable  you  to  obtain  them  at  least  as  early  as  private  letters  are 
obtained.  . . . You  are  to  consider  your  duties  confidential  and 

keep  all  despatches  remaining  over,  in  your  possession.  That  you 
may  receive  all  practicable  facilities,  a letter  has  been  addressed  to 
the  Post-Master  of  your  City,  and  one  is  hereby  inclosed  to  the  Col- 
lector of  Customs  at  New  York,  asking  such  aid  on  the  part  of  their 
respective  offices,  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  prompt  discharge  of 
your  duties. 

I am  sir, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

(Signed)  F.  W.  Seward, 

Assistant  Secretary. 

Among  the  earliest  despatches  forwarded  by  me  to 
London  was  the  following  to  Minister  Adams,  via  Portland, 
the  only  steamer  leaving  on  that  day — which  the  New 
York  papers  published  at  the  time. 

“Washington,  April  15th.  The  sad  duty  devolves  upon  me  to 
announce  the  assassination  of  the  President  at  Ford’s  Theatre  last 
night,  by  a pistol  shot,  from  a person  who  entered  the  box  for  the 
purpose.  The  assassin  escaped,  but  it  is  supposed  has  been  arrested. 
The  President  died  at  7 :30  o’clock  this  morning.  Vice-President 
Johnson  has  assumed  the  functions  of  President,  having  been  sworn 
in  by  the  Chief  Justice.  About  the  same  time  an  attempt  was  made 
by  (it  is  believed)  a different  person  to  assassinate  Mr.  Seward,  but 
the  murderer  only  succeeded  in  inflicting  painful  and  severe  wounds 
principally  upon  his  face.” 


WILLIAM  II.  SEWARD. 


77 


“ Mr.  F.  W.  Seward  was  beaten  over  the  head  with  a heavy 
weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  person  who  attacked  his  father,  and 
grievously  hurt.  His  brother  was  also  wounded  by  the  dagger  of 
the  assassin,  as  was  Mr.  Hansell,  a messenger  of  the  department  who 
was  with  the  secretary  and  the  male  nurse  in  attendance.” 

(Signed)  William  Hunter, 

Acting  Secretary  of  State. 

A short  time  previous  to  this  attempted  assassination 
Mr.  Seward  was  violently  thrown  from  his  carriage,  strik- 
ing on  his  face  and  breaking  his  jaw-bone  ; his  son,  F.  W. 
Seward,  then  became  acting  Secretary  of  State,  and  sent 
the  following  despatch  to  Minister  Adams  : 

Department  of  State,  Washington,  April  10th,  1865. 

Sir  : — I regret  to  state  that  a serious  accident  has  occurred  to  the 
Secretary  of  State  and  that  his  injuries  are  so  severe  as  to  render  it 
impossible  for  the  present,  that  he  should  give  any  attention  to  mat- 
ters of  official  business.  It  is  hoped  that  in  a few  days  he  will  so  far 
have  recovered  from  its  effects  as  to  be  able  to  resume  in  some  de- 
gree his  official  duties.  Your  recent  despatches  will  then  be  submit- 
ted to  him.  Until  that  time  their  consideration  is  necessarily 
deferred. 

I am,  sir.  your  obedient  servant, 

F.  W.  Seward,  Acting  Secretary. 

Dr.  Yerdi,  the  family  physician  had  just  returned  from 
dressing  the  fearful  wound  when  be  was  again  suddenly 
summoned  to  a more  dreadful  sight.  The  following  is 

DR.  VERDI’S  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  ATTEMPTED  ASSASSINA- 
TION OF  MR.  SEWARD  AND  SONS. 
******** 

“ When  I reached  the  door  of  Mr.  Seward,  I ascended  quickly 
and  when  I got  up  stairs  I met  the  blanched  face  of  Mrs.  Seward, 
who,  in  an  agonized  tone,  said — “ Look  to  Mr.  Seward  ! ” Mr.  Sew- 
ard lay  on  his  bed  with  pallid  face  and  half  closed  eyes,  he  looked 
like  an  exsanguinated  corpse.  In  approaching  him  my  feet  went 
deep  in  blood.  Blood  was  streaming  from  an  extensive  gash  in  the 
swollen  cheek,  the  cheek  was  now  laid  open  and  the  flap  hung  loose 
on  his  neck.  With  prompt  applications  of  ice-water  I checked  the 
hemorrhage  and  then  examined  the  extent  of  the  wound.  The  gash 


78 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


commenced  from  the  high  cheek-bone  down  to  the  neck  in  a semi- 
circular form  towards  the  mouth,  it  was  probably  five  inches  long 
and  two  inches  deep.  It  was  a frightful  wound.  It  seemed  as  if 
the  jugular  vein  or  the  carotid  artery  must  be  wounded,  so  great  was 
the  loss  of  blood.  I was  greatly  relieved  to  find  that  they  were  not. 
Mrs.  Seward  and  her  daughter  almost  paralyzed,  were  waiting  and 
watching  for  my  first  word.  Relieved  to  see  that  the  secretary  had 
so  miraculously  escaped  the  severing  of  those  two  vital  vessels,  I 
said  : “Mr.  Seward,  even  in  your  misfortune  I must  congratulate 
you,  the  assassin  has  failed  and  your  life  is  notin  danger.”  He  could 
not  speak,  but  he  made  a sign  with  the  hand  for  his  wife  and  daugh- 
ter to  approach,  took  hold  of  their  hands,  and  his  eyes  only  spoke 
and  bid  them  hope.  I had  hardly  sponged  his  face  from  the  bloody 
stains  and  replaced  the  flap,  when  Mrs.  Seward,  with  an  intense  look 
called  me  to  her.  “ Come  and  see  Frederick,”  said  she.  Somewhat 
surprised,  I said,  “ What  fs  the  matter  with  Frederick  ? ” In  a pain- 
ful whisper  she  muttered,  “He  is  badly  wounded,  I fear.”  With- 
out adding  another  word  I followed  her  to  the  next  room,  where  I 
found  Frederick  bleeding  profusely  from  the  head.  He  had  a 
ghastly  appearance,  was  unable  to  articulate,  gave  me  a smile  of 
recognition  and  pointed  to  his  head.  There  I found  a large  wound 
a little  above  the  forehead  and  somewhat  on  the  left  of  the  median 
line,  and  another  further  back  on  the  same  side.  The  cranium  had 
been  crushed  in,  in  both  places,  and  the  brain  was  exposed.  The 
wounds  were  bleeding  profusely,  but  the  application  of  cold  water 
pledgets  soon  stopped  the  hemorrhage.  I feared  these  wounds  would 
prove  fatal.  Mrs.  Seward  was  again  haunting  me  with  that  intense 
look  of  silent  anxiety.  I gave  her  words  of  encouragement.  I feared 
they  were  unmeaning  words.  Again  she  drew  me  to  her  with  that 
look  I had  seen  in  the  other  room.  As  I approached  almost  bewil 
bered  she  said,  “Come  and  see  Augustus.”  “For  Heaven’s  sake, 
Mrs.  Seward,  what  does  this  mean  ? ” I followed  her  in  another  room 
on  the  same  floor  and  there  found  Augustus  with  two  cuts  on  his 
forehead  and  one  on  his  right  hand.  They  were  superficial.  As  I 
turned  to  Mrs.  Seward  to  give  her  a word  of  comfort  she  said, 
“Come  and  see  Mr.  Robinson.”  I ceased  wondering,  my  mind 
became  as  if  paralyzed  ; mechanically  I followed  her  and  examined 
Mr.  Robinson.  He  had  four  or  five  cuts  on  his  shoulders.  They 
were  superficial.  Again  I turned  to  Mrs.  Seward  as  if  asking,  “ Any 
more  ? ” yet  unbelieving  that  any  more  could  be  wounded.  She 
answered  my  look.  “ Yes,  one  more.”  In  another  room  I found 
Mr.  Hansell,  piteously  groaning  on  the  bed.  He  said  he  was  wounded 
in  the  back.  I stripped  him,  and  found  a deep  gash  just  above  the 
small  of  the  back,  near  the  spine.  I thrust  my  finger  in  the  wound 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


79 


evidently  made  by  a large  bladed  knife,  and  found  that  it  followed  a 
rib,  but  had  not  penetrated  the  viscera.  Here  was  another  miracu- 
lous escape.  . . Let  us  now  recur  to  some  of  the  chief  incidents 

of  the  attempted  assassination.  At  or  about  ten  o’clock  of  the  even- 
ing of  the  14th  of  April,  thirty  minutes  after  I had  left  Mr.  Seward, 
the  bell  of  his  house  gave  a ring.  William  Wells,  a colored  lad, 
who  usually  attended  the  door,  answered  that  ring.  A man  holding 
a little  package  in  his  hands,  presented  himself,  saying,  I must  go  up 
to  Mr.  Seward,  to  deliver  him  the  medicine  and  a message  from  Dr. 
Verdi.  The  lad  tells  him  he  cannot  go  up,  but  would  deliver  both 
medicine  and  message  himself.  No,  the  stranger  cannot  trust  the 
important  message,  he  must  go  up  himself.  In  vain  the  lad  remon- 
strates. In  his  testimony  before  the  court  he  states,  “ I told  him  he 
could  not  go  up  it,  was  against  my  orders.  That  if  he  would  give 
me  the  medicine  I would  tell  Mr.  Seward  how  to  take  it.”  That 
wrould  not  do,  he  started  to  go  up.  Finding  that  he  would  go  up,  I 
stepped  past  him  and  went  up  the  steps  before  him.  Then  thinking 
that  such  might  be  the  orders  of  Dr.  Verdi  and  that  I was  interfering, 
I begged  him  to  excuse  me.  I became  afraid  he  might  tell  Mr. 
Seward  and  the  doctor  of  my  interference.  He  answered,  “All 
right.”  As  he  stepped  heavily,  I told  him  to  walk  lightly  so  as  not 
to  disturb  the  secretary.  In  the  adjacent  room  to  Mr.  Seward’s 
Frederick  is  lying  on  the  sofa,  resting.  He  hears  steps  and  voices 
ascending,  he  comes  out  on  the  landing  and  there  meets  the  stranger. 
Frederick  inquires,  “What  do  you  want?”  “I  want  to  see  Mr. 
Seward,  I have  medicine  and  a message  to  deliver  from  Dr.  Verdi.” 
“ My  father  is  asleep,  give  me  the  medicine  and  the  directions,  I will 
take  them  to  him.”  “No,  I must  see  him,  I must  see  him,”  he 
repeats  in  a determined  manner.  “ You  cannot  see  him;  you  cannot 
see  him.  I am  the  proprietor  here.  1 am  Mr.  Seward’s  son.  If  you 
cannot  leave  them  with  me  you  cannot  leave  them  at  all.”  The  man 
still  insists.  Frederick  still  refuses.  The  determined  tone  of  Fred- 
erick causes  the  man  to  hesitate,  he  even  turns  to  go  down  stairs,  the 
lad  preceding,  telling  him  to  walk  lightly.  He  descends  four  or  five 
steps,  when  suddenly  he  turns  back  and  springs  upon  Frederick, 
giving  him  a blow — doubtless  with  the  heavy  pistol,  on  the  head,  that 
fells  him  to  the  ground.  The  lad  seeing  the  brutal  assault  runs  down 
crying  “ Murder  ! Murder  ! ” He  flies  to  the  corner — Genl.  Augur’s 
headquarters.  He  finds  no  guard.  In  the  meanwhile,  Robinson,  the 
nurse  in  attendance  on  Mr.  Seward,  hearing  the  unusual  noise,  opens 
the  door  and  sees  the  stranger  and  Frederick  thrown  on  his  hands 
and  bleeding;  before  he  has  time  for  thought  the  assassin  is  on  him, 
striking  him  to  the  ground,  he  quickly  rises  but  before  he  can  clinch 
with  him,  the  assassin  is  on  Mr.  Seward,  who  having  awakened  and 


80 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


comprehending  the  scene  at  once  had  risen  in  his  bed.  The  assassin 
plunges  an  immense  knife  in  Mr.  Seward’s  face,  he  attempts  another 
strike  at  his  neck,  but  Robinson  is  upon  him  and  the  knife  is  par- 
tially arrested.  He  tries  to  disengage  himself  from  Robinson  by 
striking  him  with  the  knife  over  the  shoulders. 

The  daughter,  who,  too,  is  watching  in  the  dimly  lighted  room, 
screams  “help”  and  “ murder  ! ” . . . Lewis  Payne  is  arrested 

under  suspicious  circumstances.  William  Wells,  the  colored  lad, 
was  sent  for;  being  shown  to  a room  containing  several  people,  he  is 
asked  if  he  recognizes  the  assassin  among  them  ? No,  he  does  not 
see  him.  Several  other  people  are  then  brought  in,  when  suddenly 
he  walks  towards  Lewis  Payne,  and  in  an  excited  manner  exclaims, 
“ There  he  is  ! I knew  I could  never  forget  that  lip.”  The  recogni- 
tion was  complete.  Mr.  Seward  lay  prostrate,  his  wounded  cheek 
had  tumified  and  inflamed.  His  nervous  system  had  received  such 
a shock  that  even  without  that  excessive  loss  of  blood,  had  dimin- 
ished the  natural  resources  for  action.  His  sleep  was  restless  and 
interrupted  by  terrible  dreams.  We  feared  that  even  his  strong 
constitution  would  finally  yield.  But  no — his  power  of  existence 
was  truly  extraordinary  it  was  principally  due  to  his  mental  strength. 
This  man,  so  foully  dealt  with,  would  struggle  and  conquer  in  adver- 
sity. He  treated  his  case  from  a high  standpoint  of  philosophy.  He 
spoke  of  it  as  of  an  historical  fact,  avoiding  individualism,  and 
treated  it  as  another  instance  of  the  madness  that  overcomes  weak 
minds  in  great  national  convulsions.  It  was  sublime  to  hear  this 
stricken-down  man  with  jaws  screwed  together  by  surgical  art,  speak- 
ing through  a hole  made  in  the  apparatus  that  held  his  mouth  fast, 
not  a word  for  himself  but  the  words  of  a sound  philosopher  who  will 
not  despise  human  nature  for  the  act  of  a madman.  With  nothing 
but  misery,  suffering  agony,  and  with  death  staring  him  in  the  face, 
he  was  calm,  submissive,  even  forbearing.  All  his  solicitude  "was 
about  his  son.  Of  the  calamity  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  his  fellow-co-laborer, 
he  knew  nothing  for  several  days.  The  wounds  of  Frederick  excited 
the  greatest  solitude.  The  brain  was  exposed  in  both  places,  in  the 
anterior  one  fully  a square  inch  of  the  membranes  of  the  brain  were 
exposed  to  view.  A lacerated  vessel  on  the  interior  surface  of  the 
cranium  would  from  time  to  time  bleed  so  profusely  as  to  put  his 
life  in  imminent  jeopardy,  and  yet  it  could  not  be  reached  for  a liga- 
ture. We  wTere  constantly  kept  in  fearful  apprehension  of  these 
hemorrhages.  With  noble  fortitude  did  that  family  bear  the  anxie- 
ties and  the  fatigues  of  this  long  and  sad  period  ; Mrs.  Seward,  so 
delicate  in  frame,  so  feeble  in  health,  unceasingly  supervising  all  the 
nursing  that  required  such  fine  judgment  and  unremitting  care. 

Human  endurance,  however,  has  its  limits,  and  Mrs.  Seward  finally 


WILLIAM  II.  SEWARD. 


81 


succumbed.  The  little  flame  that  lighted  that  body  expired  on  the 
21st  of  June.  Like  her  life,  her  death  was  the  calmness  of  a heaven- 
born  spirit.  Overcome  by  these  multiplied  trials  her  daughter  at 
length  sank  into  a nervous  fever  that  consumed  her.  Her  body  could 
not  bear  whatever  soul  had  borne,  and  in  a year’s  time  she  added  one 
more  to  the  number  of  victims  to  the  terrible  plot  of  Booth,  Surratt 
and  Payne.” 

Mr.  SewarcLs  only  allusion  to  “casualties”  which  de- 
prived the  department  of  the  services  of  both  secretary  and 
assistant  secretary  of  state  for  several  weeks,  was  drawn  out 
by  way  of  an  excuse  for  an  omission  to  fully  acknowledge 
the  manifold  expressions  which  were  transmitted  to  the 
department  from  governments,  public  authorities,  civic, 
ecclesiastical,  educational  corporations  and  associations  as 
well  as  from  public  assemblies  of  citizens,  and  from  individ- 
ual citizens,  of  their  feeling  of  sympathy  and  condolence 
which  the  government  and  the  people  of  the  United  States 
in  the  calamity  which  they  had  suffered  in  the  lamented 
death  of  the  late  president,  Abraham  Lincoln.  “ Owing,” 
says  Mr.  Seward,  “ to  some  peculiar  casualties,  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  department  was  impaired  at  the  time  the  des- 
patches were  received,  and  they  obtained  only  a simple  and 
formal  acknowledgment  from  the  presiding  secretary.” 

Mr.  A.  D.  F.  [Randolph,  the  well-known  publisher,  al- 
ways a great  admirer  of  Mr.  Seward's  statesmanship,  ad- 
dressed to  him,  on  several  occasions,  well-turned  sonnets. 

The  following  appropriate  poetic  tribute  was  at  the 
close  of  his  long  term  of  service  as  Secretary  of  State  : 

W.  H.  S. 

“Eight  years  of  service,  such  as  greatest  kings 
Might  seek,  yet  be  unable  to  perform  ; 

Thou  hast  rode  out  from  first  to  last  the  storm 
That  shook  the  Nation.  Now  the  day  that  brings 
To  all  the  land  the  crowning  act  of  Peace 
Takes  off  thy  burden,  gives  thee  glad  release. 

How  through  these  years  m silence  has  thou  borne, 

The  cruel  doubt,  the  slanders  of  debate — 

The  assassin’s  knife,  and  keener  blade  of  scorn 
4* 


82 


WILLIAM  II.  SEWARD. 


Wielded  by  party  in  its  narrow  hate, 

How  couldst  thou  pause  each  step  to  vindicate 
Of  thy  surpassing  work  ? Lo  ! it  is  done, 

Freedom  enshrined  in  our  regenerate  state, 

And  they  who  were  divided  made  as  one.” 

March  4th,  1869. 

Mr.  F . B.  Carpenter,  the  artist,  in  a letter  to  the  JV. 
Y.  Independent,  describing  a visit  to  Mr.  Seward,  in  July, 
1870,  thus  vividly  pictures  the  latter’s  residence  at  Auburn: 

“ South  Street  a brick  house  of  the  style  of  forty  or  fifty  years 
ago,  painted  yellow,  large,  roomy,  most  hospitable  looking,  situated 
in  the  midst  of  some  three  acres  of  lawn  and  sliubbery,  a row  of  Lom- 
bardy poplars  like  grim  sentinels  bordering  the  street  in  front  of  the 
house,  couchant  lions  in  stone  crowning  the  solid  columns  which 
support  the  iron  gates,  a broad  carriage-way,  and  stone  stables  in  the 
rear — such  were  the  outward  appearance  and  surroundings  of  the 
home  of  Ex-Secretary  Seward. 

“ The  ‘ gates  ’ to  this  delightful  retreat  seemed  ever  ‘ ajar.’  Dis- 
tinguished strangers,  friends  and  neighbors  were  constantly  calling 
to  pay  their  respects  to  the  venerable  statesman,  who,  at  the  age  of 
seventy,  bore  so  remarkably  the  years  and  cares  of  his  eventful  life. 

“ The  house  is  a museum  of  curiosities.  Relics,  mementoes,  testi- 
monials, innumerable  works  of  art  abounded  everywhere.  In  the 
reception-room  are  the  family  portraits.  Those  of  Mr.  Seward’s  father 
and  mother  at  once  attract  the  visitor,  not  alone  on  account  of  the 
quaint  costumes  and  the  striking  resemblance  disclosed  between 
father  and  son,  but  for  the  remarkable  character  and  sweetness  of 
expression  embodied  in  the  countenance  of  Mr.  Seward’s  mother.  It 
was  one  of  the  faces  that  always  arrest  attention — a face  sure  to  lin- 
ger long  afterward  in  the  memory.” 

Notwithstanding  the  injuries  received  at  the  time  of 
his  attempted  assassination  in  1865  (from  the  effects  of 
which  he  still  suffered),  his  infirmities  and  his  advanced 
age,  Mr.  Seward  started  on  a journey  around  the  world  in 
the  year  1870,  which  he  completed  the  following  year,  then 
returning  to  Auburn,  where  he  passed  the  remaining  days 
of  his  long  and  patriotic  life. 

The  reception  tendered  him  all  along  the  route  of  his 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


83 


travels  was  remarkable.  In  almost  every  clime  he  was 
greeted  with  enthusiastic  demonstrations  by  the  people 
generally,  and  was  the  recipient  of  many  affecting  marks 
of  individual  esteem.  By  sovereigns  and  ministers  he  was 
universally  welcomed  as  one  with  whom  they  had  been  in 
friendly  intercourse  ; and  not  only  was  every  courtesy  ex- 
tended to  him  by  his  own  countrymen  whom  he  met 
abroad,  but  the  various  nations  through  which  he  jour- 
neyed seemed  to  vie  with  each  other  in  doing  him  honor. 

Once  in  1871,  during  Mr.  Seward's  remarkable  journey, 
he  said  : 44  Passing  through  the  great  library  of  an  English 
nobleman  with  Sir  Henry  Holland,  we  came  upon  an  al- 
cove, where  an  author  sat  surrounded  by  a pile  of  tomes. 
4 There,’  said  Sir  Henry,  4 is  an  illustration  of  the  methods 
of  the  human  intellect.  That  is  the  way  books  are  made 
— out  of  books.  Here  are  800,000  volumes  on  these 
shelves,  slowly  and  laboriously  reproduced  out  of  each 
other  during  successive  centuries.  And  they  will  continue 
for  centuries  to  come,  evolving  others  in  which  an  original 
thought  or  fact  will  be  the  exception,  while  the  great  mass 
of  their  ideas  will  be  selected,  copied  and  rearranged  with 
more  or  less  skill  from  their  predecessors/ 

44  4 And  that,’  he  added,  4 induces  me  to  think  that  the 
destruction  of  the  Alexandrian  library,  that  the  world  la- 
ments, was,  perhaps,  no  great  calamity  after  all.  Probably 
nearly  every  valuable  thought  in  it  has  reappeared  since 
somewhere  else/" 

At  another  time  he  said:  44 In  Guadalaxara,  Mexico, 
there  is  a great  treasure,  which  the  world  passes  by  un- 
noticed and  unknown.  The  convents  and  colleges  there 
were  two  centuries  accumulating  libraries  containing  all 
manner  of  rare  and  valuable  books  and  manuscripts,  in  va- 
rious languages  and  on  all  subjects.  When  the  revolution 
took  place  these  institutions  were  broken  up,  their  prop- 
erty confiscated  and  their  libraries  became  the  property  of 
the  several  States.  So  the  State  of  Jalisco  found  itself 
the  possessor  of  a vast  accumulation  of  books,  containing 


84 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


a multitude  of  duplicates.  These  duplicates  it  would  glad- 
ly sell  or  exchange  and  still  retain  a library  such  as  few 
European  capitals  can  boast.  But  Guadalaxara  is  so  re- 
mote, so  cut  off  from  communication  with  the  literary 
world,  that  the  great  treasure  still  rests  there,  in  the  dim 
and  dusty  seclusion  of  the  upper  rooms  of  the  university.” 

After  finishing  his  wonderful  sight-seeing  abroad,  he 
decided  to  write  an  account  of  his  travels,  in  response  to 
an  evident  popular  desire  for  the  same.  Seward's  Travels 
Around  the  World,  edited  by  his  adopted  daughter,  Olive 
Risley  Seward,  was  the  result  of  this  conclusion  ; they  were 
published  in  1873,  by  D.  Appleton  & Co.,  at  which  time  I 
was  connected  with  that  house.  It  had  an  immense  sale, 
yielding  the  estate  a copyright  of  more  than  fifty  thousand 
dollars. 

In  the  year  1871,  I received  a letter  from  Mr.  Seward, 
an  extract  from  which  is  given  below. 

“ I am  clearing  away  from  my  table  an  accumulated 
business  and  correspondence,  with  a view,  if  lean  find  the 
necessary  aid,  to  prepare  an  account,  not  of  my  life  and 
times,  but  of  my  own  particular  part  in  the  transactions 
and  events  of  the  period  in  which  I have  lived." 

He  soon  after  began  his  autobiography  and  told  the 
story  of  his  life  down  to  his  34th  year.  It  was  his  intention 
to  complete  the  work,  but  his  death  left  it  unfinished.  This 
autobiography  is  incorporated  with  a memoir  of  Mr. 
Seward's  life  by  his  son  Frederick  W.  Seward,  published  by 
D.  Appleton  & Co.,  in  the  year  1877.  The  second  volume, 
completing  this  most  interesting  biography,  we  may  hope 
soon  to  see  from  the  pen  of  this  worthy  and  accomplished 
son,  who  was  associated  so  long  with  his  father  as  assistant 
Secretary  of  State,  and  which  position  he  subsequently 
filled  under  the  Hon.  William  M.  Evarts,  with  great  credit 
to  himself  and  satisfaction  to  the  public. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Seward,  occurred  on  the  10th  of 
October,  1872.  His  funeral  was  attended  by  a large  con- 
course of  his  neighbors  and  distinguished  friends  from  all 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


85 


parts  of  the  States.  The  tomb  in  which  his  remains  rest, 
in  Fort  Hill  Cemetery,  at  Auburn,  is  of  white  marble,  sup- 
porting a cross  upon  which  rests  a wreath  of  oak  and  laurel. 
At  the  head  is  a cinerary  urn  of  classic  design,  around 
which  is  entwined  a vine  of  ivy. 

On  the  face  of  the  tomb  is  simply  inscribed  : 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD, 

Borh  May  16th,  1801.  Died  October  10th,  1872. 

On  the  base  of  the  urn  is  the  inscription  which  he 
desired  : 

“He  was  faithful” 

Passing  up  Broadway,  to  Madison  Square  Park,  one  of 
the  first  objects  of  interest  to  attract  the  attention  is  the 
fine  bronze  statue  erected  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Seward  by 
prominent  citizens  of  New  York. 

The  commission  to  produce  this  monument  was  given  to 
Mr.  Randolph  Rogers,  a personal  friend  of  the  subject  of 
his  model ; and  of  his  work,  the  London  Art  Journal  says  : 

“ The  sculptor  has  executed  a life-like  portrait  statue 
of  the  late  eminent  American  Statesman,  Mr.  Seward.  The 
statue  is  in  every  w’ay  naturalistic,  there  has  been  no  at- 
tempt to  make  it  anything  but  a portrait  of  the  man,  and 
this  it  may  fairly  lay  claim  to.  He  is  seated  in  an  attitude 
of  meditation,  and  in  a costume,  such  as  in  all  probability, 
he  was  daily  accustomed  to  wear." 

The  statue  was  completed  and  formally  presented  to  the 
city  the  28th  of  September,  1876,  before  assembled  thou- 
sands, who  witnessed  the  unveiling.  Hon.  John  Bigelow, 
making  the  formal  presentation  of  the  statue  on  the  part 
of  the  citizens,  the  Mayor,  Hon.  W.  H.  Wickham,  accept- 
ing the  same  in  the  name  of  the  city.  The  orator  of  the 
day  was  Hon.  William  M.  Evarts.  The  inscriptions  are 
of  the  simplest  nature.  On  the  upper  tablet  is  inscribed 
the  name,  William  H.  Seward,  on  the  larger  tablet  beneath 
—Governor — United  States  Senator — Secretary  of  State. 


III. 

HARPER  & BROTHERS. 


First  call  on  Harper  & Brothers — Their  early  business 
hours — Anecdotes  of  their  early  home — James  Harper’s 
fund  of  Humor — Elected  Mayor — His  lesson  to  hack- 
men — Accident  causing  his  death — John  Harper’s 
fondness  for  horses — Will  not  'work  on  Sunday — 
Honored  life  and  peaceful  death — Wesley  Harper  the 
beloved  brother — First  visit  to  a theatre — Fletcher  Har- 
per’s great  achievement — Thurlow  Weed’s  shrewdness 
— Fletcher  Harper’s  noted  Monday  dinners — His  death 
greatly  mourned — The  present  firm — Traditions  of  the 
founders. 

"V/TY  acquaintance  with  the  house  of  Harper  & Brothers 
began  in  the  year  1838,  when  I was  a clerk  for  Mr. 
Henry  Ivison,  who  at  that  time  was  a bookseller  and  book- 
binder in  the  village  of  Auburn,  1ST.  Y.,  and  who  probably 
never  dreamed  that  he  would  eventually  become  the  head 
of  the  largest  school-book  house  in  the  world.  In  the  year 
mentioned,  Mr.  Ivison  sent  me  to  New  York,  having  con- 
fidence in  my  knowledge  of  the  trade,  to  lay  in  a stock  for 
his  book-store,  and  gave  me  a letter  of  introduction  to  the 
Harpers.  At  that  time  they  were  doing  business  at  82 
Cliff  Street.  I shall  never  forget  the  feeling  of  awe  with 
which  I entered  their  door  and  presented  my  letter,  nor 
the  kindness  and  cordiality  with  which  they  welcomed  the 
youngster  on  his  first  visit  to  the  great  city,  put  him  at  his 
ease,  and  made  him  feel  at  home.  The  impression  made 
upon  me  at  that  moment  will  never  be  effaced  from  my 
[86] 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


87 


memory ; and  I recall  now,  as  though  it  were  but  yesterday, 
the  pleasant  smile  and  courteous  manner  with  which  I was 
greeted  by  each  of  the  four  brothers.  The  acquaintance 
and  friendship  thus  begun  suffered  no  interruption  during 
the  lifetime  of  the  brothers,  and  have  continued  on  in  the 
most  pleasant  and  cordial  relations  with  their  successors. 

In  the  year  1840  I began  business  on  my  own  account 
in  Auburn,  and  had  occasion  to  visit  New  York  twice  a 
year  for  the  purchase  of  supplies.  Of  course,  no  booksel- 
ler’s stock  was  complete  without  the  publications  of  Har- 
per & Brothers,  and  for  many  years  I was  one  of  their  con- 
stant customers.  However  early  in  the  morning  I might 
call,  I rarely  failed  to  find  each  member  of  the  firm  at  his 
post.  This  habit  of  business  punctuality  clung  to  them 
through  life  ; and  thinking  of  it  reminds  me  of  an  inci- 
dent of  his  clerkship  in  the  house,  told  me,  not  long  since, 
by  a member  of  the  present  firm.  In  common  with  his 
cousins,  he  was  not  quite  so  rigid  as  were  his  father  and 
uncles  in  observing  the  homely  old  proverb  that  inculcates 
the  advantages  of  being  early  at  business.  Sauntering  into 
the  counting-room  about  nine  o’clock  one  morning,  smok- 
ing a cigar,  he  was  thus  greeted  by  his  uncle  John : 
“ When  your  father  and  I were  of  your  age,  Joe,  we  used 
to  be  at  the  office  at  half-past  seveu,  and  remain  until  six.” 
“Ail  right.  Uncle  John,”  replied  the  young  scion  ; “you 
did  it  so  that  we  might  not  be  obliged  to  do  it  when  it 
came  our  turn.”  “ Yes,”  said  Uncle  James,  “and  I sup- 
pose, Colonel,  the  boy  will  make  it  up  by  leaving  earlier.” 
The  Colonel  evidently  felt  that  the  point  was  against  him, 
and,  with  a comical  look  of  reproof  at  the  incorrigible  over 
his  glasses,  he  resumed  the  reading  of  his  Courier  & En- 
quirer. 

The  four  brothers,  to  whom  I was  thus  pleasantly  in- 
troduced nearly  half  a century  ago,  were  the  children  of 
Joseph  Harper,  the  eldest  son  of  James  Harper,  a native  of 
England,  who  came  to  this  country  about  the  middle  of 
the  last  century,  and  settled  as  a schoolmaster  at  Newtown, 


88 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


Long  Island,  where  he  married.  His  body  rests  beneath 
the  pulpit  of  the  Sands  Street  M.  E.  Church,  in  Brooklyn, 
which,  in  all  its  mutations,  has  preserved  the  plainness  and 
simplicity  of  the  good  old-fashioned  Methodist  Meeting- 
house. Joseph,  who  was  born  in  1766,  was  a sort  of  uni- 
versal genius.  He  was  a house  carpenter  by  trade,  culti- 
vated a small  farm,  and,  for  the  convenience  of  his  neigh- 
bors, kept  a small  retail  store  in  one  room  of  his  house.  In 
his  absence  the  store  was  tended  by  his  wife.  The  old 
homestead,  somewhat  altered,  is  still  standing  at  Middle 
Village,  and  the  farm  forms  part  of  the  Lutheran  Cemetery 
in  that  town. 

The  carpenter’s  trade  was  not  very  lucrative,  but  inci- 
dentally it  helped  Joseph  Harper  to  what  was  better  than 
a fortune,  an  excellent  wife.  While  engaged  in  building  a 
house  for  a well-to-do  Dutch  farmer  of  the  vicinage,  the 
young  man  fell  in  love  with  his  employer’s  daughter,  a 
comely  young  damsel.  Her  father,  a sturdy  Lutheran, 
objected  to  the  match  on  religious  grounds,  there  being 
a strong  prejudice  against  the  followers  of  Wesley  among 
the  Dutch  burghers  at  that  time.  But  the  young  man’s 
affection  was  returned  ; the  father  at  length  yielded,  and 
in  April,  1792,  Elizabeth  Kolyer  became  Mrs.  Joseph  Har- 
per. Soon  after  her  marriage  she  joined  the  Methodist 
communion ; and  to  the  day  of  her  death  she  continued 
to  exemplify  the  beauty  and  sweetness  of  a pure,  simple 
and  devout  Christian  character. 

Their  house  was  always  open  to  the  visits  of  Methodist 
preachers,  who  were  welcomed  with  open-handed  hospital- 
ity. The  best  room  was  reserved  for  them,  and  it  was  called 
“the  Preacher’s  bed-room.”  In  it  stood  a high-post  bed- 
stead ; a snow-white  counterpane,  fragrant  with  the  odor 
of  lavender,  covered  the  bed,  and  the  room  was  pervaded 
with  an  air  of  simplicity  and  comfort.  Every  quarter-day, 
the  presiding  elder  was  made  at  home  in  their  house,  and 
treated  with  as  much  reverence  and  respect  as  if  he  had 
been  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury ; indeed,  he  was  a sort 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


89 


of  pope  in  those  days,  and  wielded  an  authority,  which  has 
become  a matter  of  tradition.  As  a rule,  the  preachers 
were  men  of  fine  physique,  earnest,  genial,  and  kindly, 
delightful  guests  and  not  insensible  to  the  charms  of  hos- 
pitable entertainment. 

The  following  incident  will  serve  to  illustrate  Mr. 
Harper’s  strength  of  character.  One  day  he  was  remon- 
strating kindly  with,  a neighbor  who  was  given  to  indulg- 
ence to  strong  drink,  when  the  latter,  looking  him  full  in 
the  face,  interrupted  him  with  : “ Neighbor  Harper,  you 
don’t  like  the  taste  of  liquor,  but  you  are  as  much  a slave 
te  tobacco  as  I am  to  rum,  and  you  couldn’t  break  off  that 
habit  any  more  than  I could  break  off  drinking.”  Mr. 
Harper  made  no  immediate  reply,  but  the  retort  made  a 
deep  impression  on  his  mind.  He  thought  the  matter  over, 
and  determined  that  no  self-indulgence  on  his  part  should 
be  an  excuse  to  his  neighbor.  That  very  day  he  put  his 
pipes  and  tobacco  away  on  the  topmost  shelf  of  the  closet 
above  the  old-fashioned  kitchen  fire-place  ; and  from  that 
time  to  the  day  of  his  death,  nearly  thirty  years  after,  he 
eschewed  the  use  cf  tobacco.  The  self-denial,  as  every  one 
who  has  been  addicted  to  the  habit  knows,  was  a severe  test 
of  resolution.  Mr.  Harper  said  nothing  about  it,  but 
quietly  and  conscientiously  carried  out  the  idea  long  after- 
wards expressed  by  Emerson  : 

“ Nor  knowest  thou  what  argument 
Thy  life  to  thy  neighbor’s  creed  hath  lent.” 

Of  the  four  brothers  the  first  to  quit  the  paternal  roof 
was  James,  the  eldest.  He  chose  to  become  a printer,  and 
at  the  age  of  sixteen  was  apprenticed  to  Messrs.  Paul  and 
Thomas,  whose  place  of  business  was  at  the  corner  of  Bur- 
ling Slip  and  Water  Street,  New  York.  His  next  brother, 
John,  soon  followed  him,  and  was  apprenticed  to  a printer 
by  the  name  of  Jonathan  Seymour.  Both  the  brothers, 
being  young  men  of  great  energy,  capacity,  and  courage, 


90 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


and  possessing  a noble  ambition  to  excel  in  everything 
which  they  undertook,  soon  became  accomplished  workmen. 
James  was  acknowledged  to  be  the  best  and  quickest  press- 
man in  New  York,  at  a time  when  steam  had  not  been 
applied  to  machinery.  One  of  his  fellow  apprentices  was 
Thurlow  Weed,  and  the  young  men  formed  a warm  friend- 
ship, which  was  broken  only  by  death.  Late  in  life  Mr. 
Weed,  speaking  of  these  early  days,  said  of  James  Harper  : 
“It  was  the  rule  of  his  life  to  study  not  how  little  he  could 
work,  but  how  much.  Often,  after  a good  day's  work, 
he  would  say  to  me,  e Thurlow,  let's  break  the  back  of 
another  token  [250  impressions] — just  break  its  back.’  I 
would  generally  consent  reluctantly  ‘just  to  break  the 
back’  of  the  token  ; but  James  would  beguile  me,  or  laugh 
at  my  complaints,  and  never  let  me  oft  until  the  token  was 
completed,  fair  and  square.  It  was  a custom  with  us  in 
summer  to  do  a fair  half-day's  work  before  the  other  boys 
and  men  got  their  breakfast.  James  and  I would  meet  by 
appointment  in  the  gray  of  the  morning,  and  go  down  to 
the  printing-room.  A pressman  who  could  do  twenty,  or 
even  ten  per  cent,  more  work  than  usual  was  always  sure 
of  a position.  James  Harper,  Tom  Kennedy  (long  since 
dead),  and  I,  made  the  largest  bills  in  the  city.  We  often 
earned  as  much  as  fourteen  dollars  each  per  week — liberal 
wages  when  you  remember  that  good  board  could  then  be 
obtained  for  ten  dollars  per  month." 

James  Harper  possessed  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  hu- 
mor, was  very  fond  of  harmless  jokes,  and,  like  President 
Lincoln,  was  a genius  in  the  art  of  telling  a good  story 
or  apt  anecdote.  He  would  keep  the  counting-room  in 
a roar  with  his  shrewd  and  witty  sayings.  It  used  to  be 
playfully  said  of  him  that  although  he  was  a strict 
“ teetotaler,"  he  was  hardly  ever  known  to  be  “sober." 
It  was  characteristic  of  him  to  approach  a person,  whether 
friend  or  stranger,  in  an  odd  and  eccentric,  but  always 
genial  way. 

James  Harper  was  elected  Mayor  of  New  York  in  1844, 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


91 


and  many  stories  are  current  that  illustrate  his  humorous 
eccentricities.  There  was  an  ordinance  then  in  force,  or 
rather  on  the  books,  for  it  was  constantly  disregarded,  that 
hackmen  should  not  board  the  River  or  Sound  boats  as 
they  came  to  their  wharves.  Rival  hackmen,  in  their  eager- 
ness to  capture  a fare,  were  accustomed  to  board  the  steam- 
ers with  the  ferocity  of  an  old-time  press-gang,  seize  their 
victims  and  carry  them  by  main  force  to  their  hacks.  One 
morning  James  Harper  arrived  in  Hew  York  by  the  Al- 
bany boat.  The  hackmen  sprang  on  board,  shouting, 
“ Carriage,  sir  ! carriage,  sir  !”  thrusting  their  cards  into 
the  very  faces  of  the  passengers.  James  engaged  seven  or 
eight  carriages.  “ Yes,  my  son/’  he  replied  to  their  im- 
portunities, “ certainly,  give  me  your  card  ;”  and  as  he 
beamed  benevolently  upon  them  through  his  spectacles, 
they  thought  they  had  captured  a most  affable  old  gentle- 
man, who  was  taking  carriages  for  a large  party.  On  reach- 
ing the  dock,  he  got  into  the  last  carriage,  and  ordered  the 
driver  to  take  him  to  the  City  Hall.  There  he  gave  the 
cards  to  his  clerk,  imposed  a fine  on  each  of  the  hackmen, 
and  directed  that  their  licenses  should  be  revoked. 

I will  give  one  more  instance  of  the  sly  humor  in 
which  James  Harper  delighted  to  indulge  : One  day  it  fell 
to  him  to  entertain  a visitor  at  the  office,  who  had  come 
in  with  no  object  save  to  satisfy  his  curiosity ; one  of  those 
dull-witted  “ bores  ” to  whom  the  parody  of  Ben  Jonson’s 
famous  line  might  be  aptly  applied  : 

“ He  was  not  for  a time,  "hut  for  all  day. 

After  a great  many  questions  about  the  business  and 
the  part  taken  by  the  several  brothers,  the  visitor  remarked: 
“ You  say,  Mr.  Harper,  that  your  brother  John  sees  to  the 
accounts,  that  your  brother  Wesley  superintends  the  cor- 
respondence, and  that  your  brother  Fletcher  keeps  the 
business  moving ; but  you  haven't  told  me  what  you  do.” 

‘ ‘ Oh,”  replied  Mr.  James  Harper,  “ they  leave  me  an 


92 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


enormous  amount  of  work.  I have  more  to  do  than  all  of 
them  put  together." 

“ Indeed  ! That  is  very  curious.  Allow  me  to  ask 
what  it  is  ?” 

“Why,  my  dear  sir,  between  you  and-  me,  they  leave 
me  to  entertain  the  bores." 

The  obtuse  visitor  appeared  to  consider  this  a most 
capital  joke,  and  was  the  only  one  who  heard  it  without 
perceiving  its  application. 

James  Harper  was  tall  and  athletic,  and  to  the  last 
noted  for  his  great  physical  strength.  His  kindly  humor, 
his  generosity,  and  affability  endeared  him  greatly  to  all 
with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  It  was  his  daily  custom  to 
pass  from  one  department  to  another  of  the  business  estab- 
lishment, chatting  and  jesting  with  the  men,  women,  and 
children  at  their  wTork,  and  having  a pleasant  word  for 
each.  He  knew  by  name  the  persons  employed  in  the 
various  departments,  interested  himself  in  their  family  his- 
tories, and  won  their  confidence. 

On  the  25th  of  March,  1869,  Mr.  James  Harper  went 
to  his  place  of  business  in  his  usual  health  and  spirits. 
He  had  almost  completed  his  seventy-fourth  year,  but  he 
was  as  erect  of  figure  and  as  buoyant  of  spirit  as  a boy. 
After  making  his  usual  visit  to  the  departments,  he  took 
his  leave,  as  it  proved,  forever.  On  his  way  up  town  he 
sat  for  his  photograph,  the  best  and  most  characteristic 
ever  taken  of  him.  Then  having  dined,  he  drove  out  with 
his  daughter.  When  at  Forty-fourth  street,  and  nearing 
Central  Park,  the  pole  of  the  carriage  suddenly  broke,  and 
the  horses,  though  docile  and  well-trained,  were  frightened, 
and  at  once  were  beyond  control.  Mr.  Harper  was  thrown 
violently  to  the  pavement,  and  was  taken  up  insensible. 
He  was  so  seriously  injured  that  he  was  carried  into  St. 
Luke’s  Hospital,  where  he  died  two  days  after  the  accident, 
without  having  regained  consciousness.  It  was  remarked 
that  for  some  time  previous  to  this  sad  occurrence  Mr. 
Harper  had  omitted  at  family  prayers  the  petition  to  be 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


93 


delivered  from  sudden  death,  and  when  asked  for  an  ex- 
planation he  had  replied,  “ The  Lord  knows  best.” 

The  death  of  Mr.  James  Harper  was  deeply  lamented, 
and  his  funeral  drew  together  a very  large  attendance  ; but 
the  most  touching  tribute  to  his  memory  was  paid  by  the 
poor  men  and  women  whose  affections  had  been  won  by  his 
sympathy  and  charities,  and  who  bent  to  kiss  his  calm, 
benignant  face  as  he  lay  in  his  coffin. 

John  Harper,  or  “ the  Colonel,”  as  he  was  familiarly 
called,  attended  to  the  finances  of  the  firm.  This  would 
have  been  of  itself  business  enough  for  any  ordinary  man  ; 
but  the  Colonel  also  took  in,  as  a sort  of  by-play,  the  pur- 
chase of  the  large  supplies  of  printing  paper  and  other 
materials  used  in  the  manufacture  of  books.  While  an  ap- 
prentice he  had  acquired  the  reputation  of  being  an  excel- 
lent compositor  and  accurate  proof-reader.  “ At  an  early 
age,”  says  one  who  knew  him  well,  “he  developed  that 
intuitive  taste  in  typography  which  was  so  marked  that  as 
long  as  he  remained  in  active  life  at  the  office  a specimen 
page  of  every  important  book  issued  by  Harper  & Brothers 
was  always  submitted  to  him  for  examination.  He  was 
quick  to  detect  a typographical  error.  If  there  was  but  a 
single  mistake  in  a page,  were  it  nothing  but  a turned  letter, 
his  keen  eye  was  almost  sure  to  catch  it.  He  was  especially 
critical  in  the  matter  of  title-pages  ; and  it  was  characteris- 
tic of  him  that  whenever  one  was  submitted  to  his  inspec- 
tion he  always  felt  in  his  waistcoat-pocket  for  his  pencil 
before  looking  at  it.  Not  infrequently  a title-page  was 
revised  a dozen  times  before  it  received  his  imprimatur .” 

The  striking  habit  of  his  mind  was  that  of  quick  de- 
cision. He  never  hesitated,  and  with  him  to  plan  was  to 
execute.  A remarkable  instance  of  this  quickness  of  pur- 
pose was  his  action  immediately  after  the  great  fire  of  1853. 
It  so  happened  that  on  the  day  of  this  disaster  I was  sitting 
in  the  counting-room  of  Harper  & Brothers,  negotiating 
for  the  use  of  some  of  their  stereot}rpe  plates.  The  four 
brothers  were  present,  with  several  of  the  sons.  Suddenly 


94 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


everyone  was  startled  by  the  cry  of  “ Fire and  in  an 
instant  the  whole  building  seemed  to  be  in  a blaze.  It  was 
soon  evident  that  little  could  be  saved  ; and  having  satisfied 
themselves  that  everyone  employed  in  the  establishment 
was  safe,  the  four  brothers  joined  the  excited  throng  in  the 
street,  and  calmly  watched  the  heroic  but  futile  efforts  of 
the  firemen  to  quench  the  flames. 

John  Harper  was  the  first  to  break  the  silence,  as  they 
stood  together.  Drawing  out  his  watch,  he  remarked,  in 
as  cool  a voice  as  if  he  were  sitting  in  his  parlor,  that  it  was 
time  to  go  to  dinner,  and  that  it  would  be  well  for  the  firm 
to  meet  at  his  house  in  the  evening  for  consultation.  At 
this  conference  it  was  decided  that,  although  there  was  an 
ample  competency  on  which  they  could  retire,  the  business 
was  too  valuable  to  be  given  up,  especially  as  they'  all  had 
sons  to  follow  in  their  footsteps.  “ We  must  show  them 
that  we  are  not  old  fogies/’  said  Mr.  John  Harper. 

Temporary  arrangements  were  made  at  once  to  carry  on 
the  business  ; and  the  erection  of  the  large  buildings  now 
occupied  by  the  firm  was  immediately  begun.  The  plans 
were  designed  by  Mr.  John  Harper,  and  the  buildings  were 
constructed  under  his  personal  supervision.  It  is  said  that 
he  went  over  the  whole  establishment  only  once  after  its 
completion. 

I find  in  the  Booksellers'  Advertiser  of  January,  1834, 
the  following  statement : — 

We  have  ascertained  that  the  number  of  works  printed 
and  published  by  Harper  and  Bros.,  is  234,  making  413 
volumes,  a single  set  of  which  cost,  at  trade  price,  $252.38. 
Of  Harper’s,  192  volumes,  from  18mo  to  8vo  are  stereo- 
typed, and  the  stereotype  plates  alone,  exclusive  of  copy- 
right, paper,  printing,  and  binding,  could  not  have  cost 
less  than  $75,000. 

Ten  years  ago  these  brothers  worked  the  press  with  their 
own  hands,  and  it  is  within  that  time  that  they  have  com- 
menced publishing,  now  they  give  constant  employment  to 
nearly  200  persons,  and,  indirectly,  to  many  more.  They 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


95 


are  diffusing  knowledge  to  millions,  and  their  names 
are  familiar  wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken.  So 
much  for  industry,  enterprise,  and  perseverance.  Let  not 
other  worthy,  but  less  successful  publishers  be  forgotten,  as 
honest  Dogberry  says,  “Comparisons  are  odorous.” 

Twenty  years  later  the  number  of  publications  published 
by  Harper  and  Bros.,  had  reached  fully  two  thousand. 
These  were  all  destroyed  by  the  fire.  Thirty  years  later  from 
the  latter  date  (January,  1884),  the  list  of  books  published 
by  them  numbered  fully  five  thousand  different  works.  By 
a singular  coincidence  the  last  book  published  by  the 
original  firm  of  Harper  and  Bros.,  was  “Seneca’s  Morals,” 
with  notes  by  Bishops  Hurst  and  Whiting.  This  was  May 
26,  1877,  Fletcher  Harper  dying  on  the  29th  of  May,  1877. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  “ Seneca’s  Morals  ” was  the  first 
book  published  by  J.  & J.  Harper. 

Mr.  John  Harper  was  very  fond  of  horses,  and  his 
familiar  figure  was  seen  almost  every  afternoon  as  he  took 
his  daily  diive  through  Central  Park  and  in  the  roads 
beyond.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  owners  of  a fast  team 
in  New  York,  and  often  entered  into  a friendly  trial  of 
speed  with  Robert  Bonner  or  the  late  Commodore  Vander- 
bilt. 

Neither  he  nor  his  brothers  ever  worked  on  Sunday ? 
even  during  their  apprenticeship.  It  is  told  of  him  that, 
one  Saturday  afternoon,  when  he  was  a journeyman  printer 
in  the  employment  of  Jonathan  Seymour,  he  was  informed 
that  he  was  expected  to  work  the  next  day  on  the  cata- 
logue of  an  auction  sale  ; which  was  to  be  held  on  the  follow- 
ing Monday.  “That  I will  not  do,”  was  the  sturdy, 
though  respectful  reply.  “I  will  forfeit  my  papers,  but  I 
will  not  work  on  Sunday.”  When  the  clock  struck  twelve 
that  night,  John  Harper  laid  down  his  composing  stick, 
and  went  home,  regardless  of  a threat  to  discharge  him. 
On  Monday  morning  Mr.  Seymour,  who  admired  the  pluck 
and  moral  courage  displayed  by  the  young  man,  apologized 
for  having  spoken  harshly  to  him,  and  made  him  foreman 


96 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


of  a department.  When  in  business  for  himself  Mr. 
Harper  never  allowed  any  work  to  be  done  in  the  estab- 
lishment on  Sunday ; and  this  has  uninterruptedly  con- 
tinued to  be  the  rule  of  the  office. 

One  Saturday  afternoon  the  Colonel,  then  in  the  mellow 
autumn  of  his  life,  and  his  two  sons  were  enjoying  their 
after-dinner  cigars  together,  when  the  old  gentleman 
inquired  whether  they  were  going  to  attend  church  all  day 
on  the  morrow.  “ Well,”  said  the  elder  son,  “ I think  I 
shall  go  to  church  in  the  morning,  and  in  the  afternoon 
take  a f constitutional ’ in  the  Park.”  “ Tut,  tut !”  replied 
the  Colonel,  “ when  I was  a young  man  of  your  age  I 
worked  fourteen  hours  every  week  day.  After  all  that,  on 
Sundays  I went  to  Sunday-school  in  the  morning  at  nine 
o’clock,  and  to  church  at  half-past  ten.  I came  home  to  an 
early  dinner,  and  again  attended  Sunday-school  and  church 
in  the  afternoon  ; and,  very  likely,  I went  to  church  in  the 
evening.  What  do  you  think  of  that,  young  gentlemen?” 
“ Well,  father,”  answered  the  younger  son,  “ I dare  say 
we  shall  be  saying  the  same  thing  to  our  children  one  of 
these  days.”  “ You  impudent  young  heathen,”  replied  the 
Colenel  with  an  amused  smile,  “I  have  the  truth  on  my 
side.” 

George  William  Curtis  says,  in  the  “Editor’s  Easy 
Chair,”  that  when  James  Harper  met  with  his  fatal  acci- 
dent, “John’s  self-command  withheld  all  excessive  expres- 
sion or  loud  lamentation,  but  those  who  knew  the  intensity 
of  his  nature  and  the  closeness  of  the  life-long  affection, 
and  the  undisturbed  harmony  of  their  common  interests 
and  purposes  for  more  than  fifty  years,  knew  also  the  cruelty 
of  the  blow,  and  watched  painfully  the  result.  From  that 
moment  his  active  interest  in  business  declined.  He 
continued,  indeed,  to  appear  for  a little  time  at  the  office, 
but  one  day  in  returning  home  he  had  a slight  attack, 
which  seemed  to  him  possibly  to  indicate  some  failure  of 
his  powers,  and  nothing  in  all  his  life  was  more  character- 
istic than  the  injunction  which  he  then  laid  upon  his  part- 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


97 


ners  that  he  was  never  again  to  be  consulted  upon  the 
conduct  of  the  business.  During  the  leisure  of  his  last 
years  he  found  enjoyment  in  driving,  until  a severe  stroke 
of  paralysis  deprived  him  even  of  that  pleasure  and  finally 
rendered  him  helpless.  He  lived,  however,  to  be  nearly 
eighty  years  old,  when  he  met  a peaceful  death.” 

At  a meeting  of  the  book  trade  association,  held  on 
Saturday,  April  24,  1875,  Mr.  A.  D.  F.  Randolph,  in  his 
eloquent  eulogy  upon  the  life  of  Mr.  Harper,  said,  “ To 
prosecute  successfully,  as  he  did,  the  details  of  his*business, 
required  conspicuous  ability  and  untiring  industry  ; nay, 
he  must  have  possessed  absolute  genius.  He  lived  to  see 
mighty  results  as  the  fruit  of  his  arduous  labors.  He  lived 
to  see  the  business  of  a small  upper  room  in  Dover  Street 
grow  into  the  magnificent  proportions  of  that  in  Franklin 
Square.  Throughout  his  entire  business  career  he  has 
maintained  the  integrity  of  his  name  and  the  noble  sim- 
plicity of  his  character,  and  deservedly  reaped  the  reward 
which  he  labored  for,  by  seeing  completed  the  house  of 
which  he  had  laid  the  foundation.  It  seemed  a beautiful  pic- 
ture to  see  this  man,  after  enduring  and  overcoming  many 
trials  and  disasters,  sitting  in  the  twilight  of  life  waiting 
for  the  opening  of  the  gateway  through  which  he  was  to 
pass  to  meet  his  Maker.” 

Joseph  Wesley  Harper,  the  third  of  the  four  brothers, 
was  of  slighter  physique  than  the  rest.  It  is  told  that  when 
he  was  a child  an  old  Presiding  Elder  said  to  his  mother, 
“ Sister  Harper,  why  don't  you  give  one  of  your  boys  to 
the  Lord,  to  be  a preacher  ?”  “ Why,”  said  she,  “that  is 

just  what  I expected  to  do,  and  I have  already  selected  one  of 
them.”  “ Which  one  have  you  selected  ?”  inquired  the 
gratified  Elder.  “ I have  selected  Wesley,”  was  the  reply. 
“'And  why  Wesley  rather  than  James,  or  John,  or  Fletch- 
er !”  “ Oh  well,”  replied  Mrs.  Harper,  “ Wesley  seems  to 

be  the  most  feeble  and  delicate  in  health,  and  he  is  rather 
lazy — ” Then,  perceiving  from  the  Elder's  perplexed  and 
rather  mortified  look  that  he  had  put  a wrong  interpreta- 
5 


98 


HARPER  A1STD  BROTHERS. 


tion  on  her  motives,  she  hastened  to  add  : “ I thought  that 
if  I gave  Wesley  to  the  Lord,  he  would  take  him  and  make 
him  over  again,  so  that  he  would  be  all  right. ” 

Gentle,  refined,  and  affectionate  in  spirit,  Wesley  pos- 
sessed a natural  inclination  to  the  literary  culture  which 
distinguished  him  in  after  life.  His  mind  was  quick,  sub- 
tile, and  at  the  same  time  broad  and  catholic.  He  had  an 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  productions  of  the  best 
authors,  and  few  men  were  better  read  in  the  current  liter- 
ature of  the  day.  As  his  part  of  the  business,  he  for  many 
years  managed  the  literary  department,  receiving  authors' 
manuscripts,  and  frequently  reading  them  himself.  His 
manner  was  invariably  courteous  and  affable,  and  no  one 
could  be  long  in  his  presence  without  feeling  at  home. 
The  most  sensitive  author  found  in  him  a sympathetic 
friend  and  adviser.  If  a MS.  was  to  be  declined,  the  decli- 
nation was  always  made  in  the  kindest  manner,  and  the 
disappointment  softened,  not  infrequently,  with  sugges- 
tions and  advice  that  gave  the  unsuccessful  applicant  fresh 
heart  and  hope.  Wesley  also  attended  to  the  literary  cor- 
respondence of  the  house,  in  which  position  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son,  Joseph  W.  Harper,  Jun.,  one  of  the 
senior  members  of  the  present  firm. 

For  several  years  previous  to  his  death  Wesley  was  in 
feeble  health.  One  afternoon  his  three  brothers  paid  him 
a visit  at  his  house.  What  took  place  during  that  inter- 
view has  never  been  told.  It  was  the  last  meeting  of  the 
four  on  earth.  The  next  day  James  met  with  the  fatal 
accident  already  described.  Wesley,  deeply  affected  by  the 
break  in  the  harmonious  circle  of  brotherhood,  predicted 
that  he  would  be  the  next  to  go.  The  heart  trouble,  from 
which  he  had  long  suffered,  became  rapidly  worse  ; and  on 
the  14th  of  February,  1870,  the  “best  beloved”  of  the 
four  brothers  passed  quietly  away.  A little  after  sunrise 
he  asked  that  the  window  should  be  opened  ; then,  after 
taking  a slight  refreshment,  he  thanked  his  attendants 
with  his  usual  courtesy,  lay  back  on  the  pillow,  closed  his 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


99 


eyes  and  died.  Four  of  the  pall-bearers  at  his  funeral  were 
men  who  had  been  for  many  years  in  the  employment  of 
the  firm. 

The  late  Dr.  George  Ripley,  who  was  for  a long  time  a 
reader  of  manuscripts  for  the  Harpers,  was  brought  into 
intimate  personal  relations  with  Wesley  ; and  I take  pleas- 
ure in  transferring  to  these  pages  the  following  just  and 
heartfelt  tribute  from  the  pen  of  one  who  knew  him  so  well. 
Writing  to  Mr.  Joseph  W.  Harper,  Jun.,  from  Catania, 
Sicily,  in  March,  1870,  Dr.  Ripley  says  : “ One  of  the  last 
visits  which  I made  before  leaving  New  York  was  to  the  sick 
chamber  of  the  invalid.  I did  not  bid  him  a formal  fare- 
well, for  he  appeared  so  full  of  cheerfulness  and  courage, 
that  I could  not  bring  myself  to  believe  that  he  would  not 
recover  strength  and  remain  with  us  a few  years  more.  My 
hope  was  strong  that  I should  yet  look  upon  his  kindly 
face  again.  But  now  that  he  has  gone  from  us  forever,  1 
look  back  upon  that  visit  with  peculiar  gratification.  It 
left  an  impression  on  my  mind  which  I shall  always  love  to 
cherish.  It  blends  graciously  with  the  recollections  that 
remain  after  the  twenty  years  during  which  I felt  myself 
honored  with  his  intimacy.  He  was  constantly  the  same 
to  me  from  the  first  to  the  last  of  our  acquaintance.  I 
never  heard  a passionate  or  inconsiderate  word  from  his 
lips.  Without  any  formal  demonstrations,  his  manners 
were  of  the  very  essence  of  kindness.  His  conversation 
never  failed  to  be  pleasant  and  instructive,  in  harmony 
with  his  candid  and  affectionate  bearing,  and  enlivened 
with  quiet  humor  that  sprang  from  the  gentleness  and 
goodness  of  his  nature.  It  is  a great  consolation,  in  the 
loss  which  we  suffer  in  common,  that  this  whole  earthly 
course  has  left  so  serene  and  pure  an  image  in  the  mem- 
ory." 

As  a young  man  Wesley  Harper  visited  a theatre  but 
once,  and  his  experience,  as  described  by  himself  in  later 
life,  was  anything  but  agreeable.  “ One  evening,"  he  said, 
“some  of  the  boys  persuaded  me  to  go  to  the  theatre  with 


100 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


them.  We  went  together  and  took  our  seats  in  the  pit. 
The  performance  had  not  begun.  The  people  were  assem- 
bling, and  my  companions  sat  joking  and  laughing  ; but  I 
could  not  enter  into  their  fun.  A dreadful  feeling  came 
over  me.  It  seemed  as  though  all  the  prayers  of  my 
mother,  all  the  instructions  of  my  father,  rushed  across  my 
mind  at  once.  I felt  as  though  I was  at  the  very  mouth  of 
perdition,  and  that  I could  hardly  hope  to  escape  alive.  At 
length,  I could  endure  it  no  longer,  and,  remembering  that 
the  hour  of  family  prayer  was  approaching,  I seized  my 
hat  and  fled  from  the  house.”  He  did  not  enter  a theatre 
again  till  many  years  afterward.  His  children  say,  that 
while  this  story  of  his  boyhood  illustrates  the  reverent  sim- 
plicity and  filial  devotion  which  never  left  him,  yet  ho 
really  possessed  a thorough  acquaintance  with  the  best  plays 
and  a keen  appreciation  of  the  highest  dramatic  represen- 
tation. 

In  the  simple  Methodist  Church  in  Sands  Street,  Brook- 
lyn, where,  beneath  the  pulpit,  lie  the  remains  of  his  stur- 
dy English  ancestor,  James  Harper,  and  where  six  gener- 
ations of  the  family  have  worshipped,  there  is  a mural 
tablet  with  this  inscription  : 


JOSEPH  WESLEY  HARPER, 

Born  Dec.  25,  1801. 

Died  Feb.  14,  1870. 

“ Everybody  who  knew  him  loved  him  ; everybody,  that  is,  who 
loved  modesty  and  generosity  and  honor.” 


These  words  were  written  by  a great  master  of  fiction,  in 
affectionately  describing  his  hero — one  of  the  sweetest  ideals 
in  English  literature.  And  wdio  shall  say  that  Colonel 
Newcome,  in  his  manliness,  simplicity,  and  reverence,  does 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


101 


not  represent  to  us  many  noble  souls  who  have  departed 
this  life  in  God's  faith  and  fear  ? 

Fletcher  Harper,  the  youngest  member  of  the  firm,  was 
the  last  to  go.  His  death  occurred  on  the  29th  of  May, 
1877.  The  first  break  in  the  family  of  brothers  had  deeply 
affected  the  remaining  three  ; the  death  of  Wesley  was  a 
peculiarly  personal  loss  to  Fletcher,  the  affection  between 
them  having  been  very  strong  ; and  after  the  Colonel  had 
passed  away,  Fletcher  appeared  to  lose  interest  in  his 
life-long  business.  He  rarely  visited  the  office  after  that 
bereavement.  I last  saw  him  in  the  summer  of  1876,  play- 
ing croquet  with  his  grandchildren  at  his  beautiful  summer 
residence  at  Irvington-on-the-Hudson.  I had  known  him 
nearly  forty  years,  and  during  all  that  time  he  was  to  me  a 
wise  counsellor  and  a good  friend. 

Fletcher  Harper  possessed  great  administrative  abil- 
ities. His  judgment  was  quick,  decisive,  and  rarely  at 
fault.  Writing  soon  after  his  death,  Mr.  George  William 
Curtis  said  of  him  : “In  all  his  business  relations,  Fletcher 
Harper  showed  the  quality  of  a great  administrator.  He 
was  a man  of  the  truest  modesty,  and  gayly  said  that  he 
was  a ‘ passable  ’ man  of  business  ; but  he  would  have  been 
distinguished  in  any  chief  public  trust  demanding  immense 
energy,  sagacity,  quick  and  unerring  judgment,  and  easy 
and  efficient  mastery  of  men.  He  had  the  instinct  of  a 
leader.  He  knew  at  once  what  was  to  be  done,  and  his 
shrewd  estimate  of  men  enabled  him  to  choose  his  instru- 
ments. . . . Fletcher  Harper  was  always  quiet,  and 

appeared  always  to  be  at  leisure  ; but  his  electrical  energy, 
his  controlling  will,  made  him  seem,  for  all  that,  the 
organizing  force  of  the  huge  factory  that  swarmed  and 
hummed  around  him.  . . . Like  all  such  masterful 

men,  he  abhorred  ruts  and  routine,  and  was  constantly 
and  quietly  testing  the  readiness  and  intelligence  of  those 
around  him.  He  dropped  a pregnant  hint.  The  hearer 
saw  the  scope  and  purpose,  made  thorough  and  ample  pre- 
paration, supposing  the  thing  was  to  be  done.  Mr.  Harper 


102 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


came,  saw  with  satisfaction  that  a hint  could  be  correctly 
taken,  but  announced  that  the  thing  would  not  be  done. 
What  he  wanted  were  the  habit  and  faculty  of  readiness, 
and  thus  he  surrounded  himself  with  minute-men.” 

When  John  C.  Spencer  was  Secretary  of  State  at  Al- 
bany, in  1839,  it  became  his  duty  to  supervise  the  selec- 
tion of  books  for  the  School  District  libraries.  The  alert 
mind  of  Fletcher  Harper  saw  the  opportunity  for  an  im- 
portant stroke  of  business,  and,  going  to  his  brother  James, 
he  said,  “Boss,  give  me  a letter  to  your  friend  Thurlow 
Weed,  and  ask  him  to  introduce  me  to  Mr.  Spencer.” 
Armed  with  this  letter,  the  “boy,”  as  James  called  him, 
took  the  next  boat  for  Albany,  and  on  arriving  there  put 
up  at  the  old  Eagle  Tavern.  He  then  sauntered  out  to  find 
Mr.  Weed,  who  was  then  editor  of  the  Albany  Journal , and 
a man  of  very  great  influence  Mr.  Weed  received  him  in 
the  kindest  manner,  and  having  read  James  Harper's  letter, 
said  : 

“ Well,  Fletcher,  I shall  be  very  glad  to  do  what  I can 
for  you  for  your  own  sake,  as  well  as  on  account  of  my  dear 
friend,  your  brother.  How,  Mr.  Spencer  is  a very  difficult 
man  to  approach.  He  is  very  sensitive  and  always  suspi- 
cious of  possible  jobs  ; he  requires  to  be  approached  with 
some  delicacy  and  caution.”  He  then  added,  suddenly, 
“ Why  ! he  is  coming  to  my  house  to-night.  The  Gover- 
nor will  be  there,  and  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  Mr. 
Spencer  and  some  senators  and  assemblymen.” 

Said  Fletcher,  impulsively,  “ That  is  the  very  time  I 
can  meet  him.” 

Mr.  Weed  shook  his  head  and  said,  “How,  don’t  be  in 
such  a hurry,  my  boy  ; don’t  be  in  such  a hurry.  I will 
manage  that.  I don’t  think  it  would  answer  for  you  to 
meet  him  at  my  house.  Let  me  arrange  it  for  you.” 

Accordingly,  during  the  evening,  and  in  the  presence 
of  a number  of  friends,  but  not  directly  to  Secretary  Spen- 
cer, Mr.  Weed  casually  remarked  that  he  had  had  a pleas- 
ant interview  that  day  with  a young  man  from  Hew  York, 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


103 


a hard-working,  intelligent,  industrious,  straightforward 
young  printer,  and  that  he  was  the  youngest  brother  of  his 
old  friend  and  fellow-pressman,  James  Harper.  Mr.  Spencer, 
overhearing  Mr.  Weed’s  remarks  about  the  young  man — as 
he  intended  he  should — turned  to  Mr.  Weed  and  said  : 

“ Who  is  this  wonderful  young  man,  this  young  printer? 
Where  is  he,  and  why  didn’t  you  have  him  here  to- 
night ?” 

Said  Mr.  Weed,  “ Why,  Mr.  Spencer,  he  is  very  sensi- 
tive. He  has  come  to  Albany  expressly  to  See  you  on 
business.” 

“ Then,  why  not  have  him  here  to-night  ?”  asked  Mr. 
Spencer. 

“Because,”  said  Mr.  Weed,  “he  is  not  that  kind  of  a 
man,  and  he  is  too  proud  to  avail  himself  of  a social  occa- 
sion for  business  purposes.” 

The  secretary  immediately  said,  “ Well,  you  make  me 
very  desirous  of  seeing  him.  We  must  see  him  early  to- 
morrow. Bring  him  up  ; where  is  he  ?” 

“He  is  down  at  the  Eagle  Tavern,”  said  Mr.  Weed. 
“ I will  bring  him  up  to-morrow  ; but  mind,  he  is  very 
proud  and  very  sensitive.” 

Accordingly,  the  next  day,  Mr.  Weed  presented  him  to 
Secretary  Spencer.  The  Secretary  was  very  favorably  dis- 
posed towards  him.  He  said,  “I  understand,  my  young 
friend,  that  you  want  to  furnish  the  State  with  the  school 
district  library  books.” 

Fletcher  replied,  “Yes,  that  is  what  I have  come  for, 
Mr.  Secretary.” 

“ How  do  you  propose  to  do  it  ?”  asked  Mr.  Spencer. 

“ I propose  to  do  it  under  your  direction,”  said 
Fletcher. 

“ You  haven’t  all  the  books,”  said  Mr.  Spencer. 

“We  will  buy  them,  then,”  replied  Fletcher. 

“But  suppose  you  cannot  buy  them?”  said  Mr.  Spencer. 

“We  will  make  arrangements  about  it  of  some  kind,” 
said  Fletcher. 


104 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


“How  about  the  price  ?”  asked  Mr.  Spencer. 

“ That,”  said  Fletcher,  looking  the  Secretary  squarely 
in  the  face,  “you  shall  decide.  Whatever  arrangements 
you  may  make  will  be  satisfactory  to  my  brothers  and  to  me. 
We  shall  put  ourselves  in  your  hands.” 

The  result  of  this  interview  was  that  Mr.  Spencer  gave 
the  house  the  making  and  supplying  of  what  soon  became 
known  in  every  household  in  Hew  York  State  as  “Har- 
per’s School  District  Library.” 

“ Many  of  the  elements  that  make  a good  diplomatist,” 
says  a writer  that  knew  Fletcher  Harper,  “ entered  into 
his  mental  composition.  On  one  occasion,  early  in  our 
civil  war,  the  publication  of  Harper' s Weeldy  was  suspended 
by  order  of  Secretary  Stanton,  on  account  of  the  printing 
of  some  views  of  our  works  before  Yorktown,  which  Mc- 
Clellan was  then  besieging.  Following  the  order  was  a 
telegram  from  the  Secretary,  stating  that  the  firm  had  been 
guilty  of  ‘ giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy’  (an  offense 
punishable  with  death),  and  requesting  that  some  member 
of  the  firm -should  immediately  proceed  to  Washington 
— whether  to  suffer  that  extreme  penalty  being  left  in 
doubt.  The  delicate  mission  devolved  upon  Fletcher  Har- 
per. He  found  the  Secretary  of  War  in  a very  belligerent 
mood  ; but  before  five  words  had  been  exchanged  he  con- 
trived to  put  Mr.  Stanton  on  the  defensive,  on  a matter  en- 
tirely foreign  to  the  object  of  his  visit.  Before  leaving  the 
War  office  he  secured  the  revocation  of  the  order  of  suspen- 
sion, and  received  the  Secretary’s  thanks  for  the  support 
which  the  Weekly  was  rendering  the  country  and  the  gov- 
ernment.” 

Harper’s  Weekly  was  the  creation  of  Fletcher  Harper.  It 
was  essentially  his  enterprise,  and  until  within  a few  months 
of  his  death  the  best  energies  of  his  controlling  mind  were 
devoted  to  its  management.  The  first  editor  of  the  Weekly 
was  the  late  Mr.  Theodore  Sedgwick.  Early  in  the  war, 
Mr.  George  William  Curtis  became  the  political  editor  of 
the  paper,  a position  which  he  continues  to  hold  with  com- 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


aos 


manding  ability.  About  fourteen  years  ago  Mr.  S.  S. 
Conant  succeeded  Mr.  Henry  M.  Alden  as  its  “ executive” 
editor,  on  the  transfer  of  the  latter  to  the  editorship  of  the 
Magazine. 

The  idea  of  the  Magazine  originated  with  James  Har- 
per, but  the  management  of  this  most  successful  and  widely 
circulated  periodical  was  by  common  consent  left  in  the 
hands  of  Fletcher  Harper,  as  later  was  that  of  the  Weekly 
and  the  Bazar.  As  a political  journal  the  Weekly  has 
been  a strong  advocate  of  the  principles  and  course  of  the 
Republican  party  ; but  it  has  always  maintained  the  char- 
acter of  an  independant  observer  of  politics,  and  refused 
to  be  bound  by  party  trammels,  or  to  be  considered  a 
party  “ organ.” 

One  of  the  most  touching  tributes  to  the  memory  of 
Fletcher  Harper  was  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Curtis,  in  the 
“Easy  Chair  and  I cannot  forbear  quoting  a portion  of 
it : 

“ The  tributes  to  him  on  all  sides  agreed  in  the  recog- 
nition of  his  remarkable  power  and  strength  of  nature — a 
noble  manliness  made  sweet  and  mild  by  the  freshest  affec- 
tion and  the  most  tender  sympathy.  His  modesty,  like  all 
his  qualities,  partook  of  a native  greatness.  He  resolutely, 
but  with  entire  unostentation,  pursued  his  way.  He  never 
held  an  office  or  wished  for  one.  He  was  not  seen  on  pub- 
lic meetings  or  on  great  occasions ; and  no  man  of  equal 
mark  in  the  city  more  instinctively  avoided  every  kind  of 
notoriety.  His  home,  thronged  with  affectionate  kindred, 
was  happy  beyond  the  common  lot ; and  at  his  hospitable 
table  sat  friends  from  far  and  near,  to  whom  his  sweet  and 
sunny  welcome  was  a benediction  like  the  summer  air. 
Time  passed  ; his  brothers — the  cheery  James,  the  indomit- 
able John,  the  gracious  Wesley — died.  The  famous  brother- 
hood was  dissolved,  and  Fletcher  stood  alone  amid  his 
memories  and  younger  men.  Too  strong  to  despond,  with 
a high  and  keen  relish  for  life,  he  yet  could  not  but  feel, 

5* 


106 


HAEPEE  AND  BEOTHEES. 


‘ The  old  order  change th,  giving  place  to  new.’  ” 

The  tie  between  him  and  Wesley  had  been  peculiarly 
tender ; and  as  Fletcher  sometimes  sat  in  the  office,  where 
for  a long  life  they  had  been  so  intimately  associated,  and 
gazed  out  of  the  window,  with  musing  and  melancholy  eyes, 
his  strong  face  seemingly  steeped  in  infinite  tenderness  of 
feeling,  one  who  had  known  them  long  and  knew  his  heart 
who  remained,  could  but  interpret  his  looks  in  the  words 
of  Henry  Vaughn  : 

‘ They  are  all  gone  in  the  world  of  light 
And  I alone  sit  lingering  here  : 

Their  very  memory  is  fair  and  bright 
And  my  sad  thought  doth  clear. 

I see  them  walking  in  an  air  of  glory, 

Whose  light  doth  trample  on  my  days — 

My  days  which  are  at  best  but  dull  and  hoary, 

Mere  glimmerings  and  decays.’  ” 

I have  dwelt  thus  long  on  my  recollections  of  these  well- 
known  gentlemen,  not  merely  because  they  were  my  fast 
friends,  but  because  the  story  of  their  career  is  instructive 
in  many  ways.  They  cared  not  so  much  about  business 
success,  or  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  as  of  leading  happy 
and  useful  lives.  Success  and  wealth  came  to  them,  but 
neither  was  the  chief  object  of  their  ambition.  The  present 
firm  name  was  adopted  in  1833.  It  is  a singular  fact  that 
the  “American  Cyclopaedia/’  which  contains  more  than 
twenty-three  thousand  titles  of  subjects,  gives  but  one  title 
of  a business  firm,  and  that  reads  “ Harper  and  Brothers.” 
The  reason  for  this  exception  is  probably  the  fact  that  the 
four  brothers  acted  as  a unit  in  all  their  business  transac- 
tions. They  were  known,  individually,  as  exemplary 
Christian  gentlemen  ; but,  collectively,  the  brothers  were 
inseparable.  Their  firm  name  was  probably  more  widely- 
known  among  English-speaking  people  than  that  of  any 
other  business  house  in  existence.  Their  business  was  con- 
ducted on  the  basis  of  absolute  trust  and  confidence  in  each 


IIARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


107 


other.  There  was  no  system  of  checks  between  them,  and 
no  necessity  for  one.  So  close,  indeed,  was  the  intimacy, 
and  so  unbounded  the  common  confidence,  that  for  many 
years  no  accounts  were  kept  between  the  brothers.  Each 
one  took  what  he  needed  for  himself,  and  the  others 
neither  knew  nor  cared  to  know  how  much  each  one  drew 
out  for  his  own  use.  This  state  of  affairs  continued  till 
within  ten  years  of  the  death  of  James  Harper. 

Ho  enterprise  was  ever  undertaken  which  any  one  of 
them  disapproved.  Of  this,  the  establishment  of  the 
Bazar  is  a notable  illustration.  The  project  originated,  as 
already  mentioned,  with  Fletcher  Harper  ; the  others  were 
at  first  indifferent  to  it.  At  length,  he  said  he  was  so  sure 
of  its  success,  that,  if  the  others  were  willing,  he  would 
undertake  it  alone.  But  John  Harper  said,  “Ho;  we 
have  never  done  anything  separately  ; we  won't  make  this 
an  exception.  I think  brother  Fletcher  shall  have  his  way, 
and  we  will  start  the  Bazar.”  It  was  sometimes  asked, 
“ Which  is  the  Mr.  Harper,  and  who  are  the  brothers?"  and 
the  invariable  answer  was,  “ Either  one  is  Harper  and  the 
rest  are  the  brothers."  As  Mr.  Curtis  aptly  said  : “With 
them  honors  were  easy,  and  it  was  hard  to  say  where  James 
ended,  and  John,  Wesley,  and  Fletcher  began."  The  divis- 
ion of  labor,  by  which  each  superintended  certain  depart- 
ments of  the  establishment,  was  one  that  grew  naturally  out 
of  their  individual  tastes. 

The  four  brothers  were  lifelong  and  consistent  members 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  ; but  they  were  men  of 
broad,  catholic  minds,  and  their  predilections  for  their  own 
form  of  religious  worship  did  not  prejudice  them  against 
other  forms.  Their  ardent  veneration  for  Wesley  descended 
to  their  children,  several  of  whom,  I may  add,  have  dis- 
played, perhaps,  an  even  closer  conformity  to  the  example 
and  the  spirit  of  his  ecclesiastical  teaching,  by  adhering  to 
the  church  in  whose  communion  the  great  reformer  lived 
and  died.  They  all  shared  the  happy  faculty  of  .leaving 
business  behind  them  when  they  left  the  office.  There  was 


108 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


no  trace  of  asceticism  in  their  character.  For  many  years 
Fletcher  Harper’s  informal  Monday  dinners  drew  around 
his  hospitable  board  many  of  the  literary  men  of  the  day. 
Clergymen  were  frequent  guests  at  these  pleasant  entertain- 
ments. Among  them  were  the  Rev.  Dr.  Prime,  of  the  New 
York  Observer  (who  succeeded  Lewis  Gaylord  Clark  as  edi- 
tor of  the  “Drawer”  in  Harper’s  Magazine );  the  Rev.  Dr. 
M‘Clintock,  the  eminent  Methodist  divine  and  scholar  ; the 
Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Osgood  ; the  Rev.  Dr.  Milburn,  the  blind 
preacher  ; the  Rev.  Father  Cumming,  of  St.  Stephen’s,  and 
many  others,  whose  anecdotes  of  books  and  authors  were  a 
delight  to  hear. 

The  attachment  of  the  four  brothers  to  the  persons 
in  their  employment  was  remarked  by  every  one  who  was 
at  all  familiar  with  their  establishment ; and,  in  turn, 
they  were  served  with  a fidelity  and  zeal  that  spring  from 
reciprocal  good-will  and  confidence  alone.  Many  men  and 
women  have  been  for  years  in  their  employment,  and  have 
been  followed  by  their  children  and  grandchildren.  I 
remember  being  in  the  office  one  day  when  old  Mr.  Far- 
rington, still  hale,  despite  the  weight  of  years,  came  in  to 
remind  Mr.  Fletcher  Harper  that  it  was  just  fifty  years 
since  he  had  entered  the  service  of  J.  & J.  Harper. 

It  is  a pleasant  thing  for  me  to  say  of  the  present  firm* 
that  the  friends  of  the  four  brothers  are  also  their  own. 
It  is  enough  that  a man  enjoyed  the  friendship  and  esteem 
of  the  founders  of  the  house  to  establish  like  relations  with 
their  successors.  I may  mention,  as  an  illustration,  the 
case  of  Mr.  Sampson  Low,  the  venerable  English  pub- 
lisher, who  became  the  London  agent  of  the  house  in  1845, 
and  whose  personal  as  well  as  business  relations  with  the 
four  brothers  were  always  most  friendly  and  confidential 
More  than  once,  since  the  death  of  Fletcher  Harper,  Mr. 

* The  firm  at  present  consists  of  Philip  J.  A.,  Fletcher,  Jr., 
Joseph  Wesley,  Jr.,  John  Wesley,  and  Joseph  Abner  Harper, 
all  sons  of  the  founders  of  the  firm,  and  J.  Henry  Harper,  the 
latter  a grandson  of  Fletcher  Harper. 


HARPER  AND  BROTHERS. 


109 


Low  has  asked  to  be  relieved  from  his  agency ; but  the 
present  firm  invariably  replied  that  they  were  unwilling  to 
sever  the  relations  so  long  ago  established,  and  maintained 
with  mutual  regard  and  confidence.  They  sent  him,  when 
he  had  reached  the  ripe  age  of  eighty-three,  an  assistant, 
to  relieve  him  of  the  hard  work  of  the  position,  but  declined 
to  accept  his  resignation.  I am  also  permitted  to  mention 
having  seen  a letter  from  Mr.  William  0.  Prime  to  Mr. 
Joseph  W.  Harper,  Jun.,  in  which  the  writer,  after  allud- 
ing in  feeling  terms  to  his  long  friendship  with  the  broth- 
ers and  the  present  firm,  expresses  his  regret  that  he  has 
no  sons  to  continue  that  friendship  with  the  coming  gene- 
ration. 

Thus  pleasantly  do  the  present  members  of  the  firm 
maintain  the  traditions  of  its  founders.  The  atmosphere 
of  kindly  sentiment  remains  unchanged ; and  in  conclud- 
ing these  desultory  recollections  I cannot  do  better  than 
quote  the  lines  written  by  Mr.  Curtis,  which  are  inscribed 
above  the  fireplace  of  the  private  office  in  Franklin  Square, 
and  which  seem  to  me  to  express,  in  the  most  felicitous 
manner,  the  traditional  spirit  of  the  house  : 

“ My  flame  expires  ; but  let  true  hands  pass  on 
An  unextinguished  torch  from  sire  to  son.” 


IV. 


S.  G.  GOODRICH— F.  B.  GOODRICH. 

Peter  Parley’s  celebrated  stories  for  children — Mr.  Good- 
rich’s first  experience  as  a publisher — Is  sold  himself 
instead  of  the  book  McFingal — Early  aid  to  Nathaniel 
Hawthorne — How  his  Twice  Told  Tales  were  published 
— A child  thinks  Peter  Parley  a humbug — Older  heads 
disenchanted — His  Natural  History  and  Prof.  Agassiz 
— Drinks  wine  with  Walter  Scott — Lockhart’s  opinion 
of  Cooper’s  novels — Wonderful  circulation  of  Peter 
Parley’s  Tales — Mr.  Goodrich’s  sudden  death. 

TpORTY  years  ago  “ Peter  Parley^  Tales,  or  Stories  for 
Children,"  were  the  best  known  and  most  popular 
books  for  young  people  published  at  that  time. 

The  author,  whose  real  name  was  Samuel  G.  Goodrich, 
was  at  one  time  a publisher  and  bookseller  himself.  In 
the  year  1820  he  published  an  edition  of  The  Poetical 
Works  of  Jno.  Trumbull,  LL.D.,  which  contained  the 
famous  epic  of  McFingal. 

It  is  stated  in  the  memoir,  which  prefaces  the  edition, 
that  it  was  first  published  at  Hartford  before  the  close  of 
the  year  1782,  and  as  no  author  at  that  period  was  entitled 
by  law  to  the  copyright  of  his  productions,  the  work 
soon  became  the  prey  of  every  printer  and  bookseller. 

Among  more  than  thirty  different  editions,  one  only  at 
any  subsequent  time  was  published  with  the  permission  or 
even  the  knowledge  of  the  writer,  and  the  poem  remained 
the  property  of  newsmongers,  hawkers,  peddlers  and  petty 
shopmen.  For  this  Mr.  Goodrich  paid  the  author  one 
[HO] 


S.  G.  GOODRICH. 


Ill 


thousand  dollars  and  one  hundred  copies  of  the  work  for  the 
copyright. 

Booksellers  advised  him  against  the  venture,  hut  he 
secured  subscriptions  enough,  as  he  supposed,  to  indemnify 
himself  against  any  loss  ; but  when  the  book  was  published 
fully  one-half  of  the  subscribers  declined  to  take  the  work. 

It  has  been  frequently  said,  especially  among  writers 
themselves,  that  publishers  always  profit  by  the  productions 
of  authors,  while  the  latter  generally  receive  little,  if  any, 
compensation  for  their  literary  efforts.  So  thought  Col. 
Trumbull,  the  poet,  who  surmised  he  had  sold  the  copy- 
right for  his  poems  too  cheap  and  that  his  publisher  had 
made  too  good  a bargain  ; but  the  result  proved  that  Mr- 
Goodrich  was  sold  instead  of  the  books,  there  being  no  de- 
mand for  the  poems. 

To  Mr.  Goodrich  belongs  the  credit  of  first  introducing 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne  to  the  public  in  book  form.  He  tells 
how  this  was  accomplished  in  his  interesting  <e  Becollections 
of  a Lifetime,”  as  follows  : 

“ I bad  seen  some  anonymous  publications  which  seemed  to  me 
to  indicate  extraordinary  powers.  I inquired  of  the  publishers  as  to 
the  writer  and  through  them  a correspondence  ensued  between  me 
and  ‘ N.  Hawthorne.’  This  name  I considered  a disguise,  and  it  was 
not  till  after  many  letters  had  passed,  that  I met  the  author,  and 
found  it  to  be  a true  title,  representing  a very  substantial  personage. 
At  this  period  he  w7as  unsettled  as  to  his  views  ; he  had  tried  his 
hand  in  literature,  and  considered  himself  to  have  met  with  a fatal 
rebuff  from  the  reading  world.  His  mind  vacillated  between  various 
projects,  verging,  I think,  toward  a mercantile  profession.  I com- 
bated his  despondence,  aud  assured  him  of  triumph,  if  he  wuuld 
persevere  in  a literal  career.  He  wrote  numerous  articles,  which 
appeared  in  the  Token  (an  annual  edited  by  Mr.  Goodrich);  occasion- 
ally an  astute  critic  seemed  to  see  through  them,  and  to  discover  the 
soul  that  was  in  them;  but  in  general  they  passed  without  notice. 

“ Such  articles  as  ‘ Sights  from  a Steeple,’  ‘ Sketches  beneath  an 
Umbrella,’  ‘ The  Wives  of  the  Dead,’  ‘ The  Prophetic  Pictures,’  now 
universally  acknowledged  to  be  productions  of  extraordinary  depth, 
meaning  and  power,  extorted  hardly  a word  of  either  praise  or  blame, 
while  columns  were  given  to  pieces  since  totally  forgotten.  I felt 


112 


S.  G.  GOODRICH. 


annoyed,  almost  angry,  indeed,  at  this.  I wrote  several  articles  in 
the  papers,  directing  attention  to  these  productions,  and  finding  no 
echo  of  my  views,  I recollect  to  have  asked  John  Pickering  to  read 
some  of  them,  and  give  me  his  opinion  of  them.  He  did  as  I request- 
ed ; his  answer  was  that  they  displayed  a wonderful  beauty  of  style, 
with  a kind  of  double  vision,  a sort  of  second  sight,  which  revealed, 
beyond  the  outward  forms  of  life  and  being,  a sort  of  Spirit  World, 
somewhat  as  a lake  reflects  the  earth  around  it  and  the  sky  above  it. 
He  was  right  no  doubt  at  that  period,  but  ere  long  a large  portion  of 
the  reading  world  obtained  a new  sense — how  or  where,  or  whence, 
is  not  easily  determined — which  led  them  to  study  the  mystical,  to 
divebeneath  and  beyond  the  senses,  and  to  discern,  gather  and  cher- 
ish gems  and  pearls  of  price  in  the  hidden  depths  of  the  soul. 

“Hawthorne  was  in  fact,  a kind  of  Wordsworth  in  prose  : less 
kindly,  less  genial  toward  mankind,  but  deeper  and  more  philosophi- 
cal. His  fate  was  similar  : at  first  he  was  neglected,  at  last  he  had 
worshippers. 

“In  1837,  I recommended  Mr.  Hawthorne  to  publish  a volume 
comprising  his  various  pieces,  which  had  appeared  in  the  Token  and 
elsewhere.  He  consented,  but  as  I had  ceased  to  be  a publisher,  it 
was  difficult  to  find  anyone  who  would  undertake  to  bring  out  the  work. 
I applied  to  the  agent  of  the  Stationers’  Company,  but  he  refused, 
until  at  last  1 relinquished  my  copyright  on  such  of  the  tales  as  1 had 
published,  to  Mr.  Hawthorne,  and  joined  a friend  of  his  in  a bond 
to  indemnify  them  against  loss,  and  thus  the  work  was  published  by 
the  Stationers’  Company  under  the  title  of  ‘Twice  Told  Tales,’  and 
for  the  author’s  benefit.  It  was  deemed  a failure  for  more  than  a 
year,  when  a breeze  seemed  to  rise  and  fill  its  sails,  and  with  it,  the 
author  was  carried  on  to  fame  and  fortune.” 


The  following  letter  from  Hawthorne  to  Mr.  Goodrich, 
the  original  of  which  is  lying  before  me,  and  a copy  of 
which  is  given  on  another  page,  refers  to  the  offer  of  the 
first  of  his  productions  published  in  the  Token.  The 
“Provincial  Tales,”  to  which  Hawthorne  refers,  are  un- 
doubtedly the  “ Twice  Told  Tales”  above  mentioned,  only 
they  appeared  six  years  later  than  their  author  hoped,  and 
under  another  and  far  better  title. 


S.  G.  GOODRICH. 


113 


“ Salem,  May  6th,  1830. 

Dear  Sir  : — 

“ I send  you  the  two  pieces  for  the  token.  They  were  ready  some 
days  ago,  but  I kept  them  in  expectation  of  hearing  from  you.  I have 
complied  with  your  wishes  in  regard  to  brevity.  You  can  insert 
them  (if  you  think  them  worthy  a place  in  your  publication)  as  by  the 
author  of  ‘ Provincial  Tales  ’ — such  being  the  title  I propose  to  give 
my  volume.  I can  conceive  no  objection  to  your  designating  them 
in  this  manner,  even  if  my  tales  should  not  be  published  as  soon  as 
the  Token,  or,  indeed,  if  they  never  see  the  light  at  all.  An  unpub- 
lished book  is  not  more  obscure  than  many  that  creep  into  the  world, 
and  your  readers  will  suppose  that  the  ‘ Provincial  Tales  ’ are  among 
the  latter. 

I am,  etc., 

Nath.  Hawthorne.  ” 

“ S.  G.  Goodrich,  Esq.” 

Daring  tlie  seven  years  which  elapsed  between  the  date 
of  this  letter  and  the  appearance  of  “ Twice  Told  Tales,” 
it  would  seem  that  Mr.  Goodrich  procured  considerable 
literary  work  for  Hawthorne,  which  was  not  all  to  his  taste, 
which  he  looked  upen  as  drudgery — as  well  he  might — and 
in  which,  in  consequence,  he  did  not  succeed. 

In  certain  publications  of  late  date,  language  is  attrib- 
uted to  Hawthorne  at  this  period,  which,  for  the  honor  of 
literature,  it  would  have  been  better  to  suppress.  Haw- 
thorne complains  that  he  is  under-paid,  half-paid,  and, 
in  some  cases,  unpaid,  and  speaks  slightingly  of  the  one 
man  out  of  two,  who  gave  him  an  opportunity  with  the 
public,  and  who  at  this  very  time  was  doing  all  in  his 
power  to  hasten  the  appearance  of  Hawthorne's  collected 
works. 

The  following  letter  from  Commodore  Horatio  Bridge, * 
Hawthorne’s  classmate  and  lifelong  friend,  to  Mr.  Frank 
B.  Goodrich,  should  set  this  scandalous  battle  at  rest  for- 
ever : 


* Ex  Paymaster  United  States  Navy. 


114 


S.  G.  GOODRICH. 


“ Hamilton  House, 

“ Washington,  Feb.  2nd,  1884. 

“ F.  G.  Goodrich,  Esq. , 

New  York. 

“ Dear  Sir  : — 

“ I have  received  yours  of  the  31st  ultimo,  and  am  able  to  give  you 
what  I think  very  correct  information  about  the  publication  of  the 
first  series  of  ‘ Twice  Told  Tales.’  It  seems  to  me  that  any  reflec- 
tion cast  upon  the  prices  paid  by  your  father  to  Mr.  Hawthorne  for 
his  writings  would  be  unfair,  for  they  were  doubtless  what  he,  at  that 
time,  felt  justified  in  giving.  . . . 

‘ ‘ The  time  came  when  it  seemed  desirable  that  these  tales  and  some 
new  matter  which  Mr.  Hawthorne  had  ready  should  be  published  in 
a volume,  and  he  told  me  that  he  had  applied  to  your  father  to  pub- 
lish such  a work,  which  plan  he  seemed  to  entertain  favorably.  But 
the  delay  was  so  great  that  Mr.  Hawthorne  became  a good  deal 
depressed.  From  my  intimacy  with  him  since  boyhood  I felt  that 
this  discouragement  would  have  an  unfavorable  influence  upon  his 
future,  and  1 determined,  without  his  knowledge,  to  ascertain  the 
true  cause  of  the  delay.  Accordingly  I wrote  to  Mr.  Goodrich  on 
the  subject.  The  enclosed  is  a copy  of  his  reply,  by  which  you  will  see 
that  the  want  of  a guaranty  against  loss  was  the  obstacle  to  the  pub- 
lication. The  necessary  guaranty  I at  once  gave,  only  requiring  that 
it  should  be  kept  secret  from  Mr.  Hawthorne  for  a time,  as  his  sensi- 
tiveness to  pecuniary  obligation  was  such  that  I feared  he  would 
refuse  to  have  the  book  published  under  such  conditions.  It  was  only 
after  the  success  of  the  volume  was  sufficient  to  show  that  no  one  in 
any  way  connected  with  it  had  lost  money,  that  Hawthorne  learned 
how  the  publication  had  been  secured.  These  circumstances  may 
account  for  any  seeming  discrepancies  in  Mr.  Hawthorne’s  expres- 
sions of  his  obligation  to  your  father. 

“ If  you  have  4 The  Snow  Image  ’ at  hand,  you  will  see  what  the 
relations  of  Mr.  Hawthorne  and  myself  were,  and  that  they  justified 
me  in  doing  everything  in  my  power  to  hasten  the  fulfillment  of  my 
boyish  prophecy.  As  you  may  suppose,  my  action  was  prompted 
much  more  by  a desire  to  give  Hawthorne  reputation,  than  to  secure 
for  him  the  small  profit  he  would  derive  from  the  percentage. 

“ I have  written  you  very  frankly,  for  I thought  you  would  like 
to  know  exactly  how  matters  stood. 

“Very  truly  yours,  &c.,  &c. 

H.  Bridge.” 


S.  G.  GOODRICH. 


115 


The  following  is  the  reply  by  Mr.  Goodrich  to  Mr. 
Bridge's  letter  in  reference  to  the  delay  spoken  of  above  : 

“Boston,  Oct.  20th,  1836. 

“ Dear  Sir  : — 

“I  received  your  letter  in  regard  to  our  friend  Hawthorne.  It  will 
cost  about  $450  to  print  1,000  volumes  in  good  style.  I have  seen  a 
publisher  and  he  agrees  to  publish  it  if  he  can  be  guaranteed  $250  as 
an  ultimate  resort  against  loss.  If  you  will  find  that  guarantee,  the 
thing  shall  be  put  immediately  in  hand.  I am  not  now  a publisher, 
but  I shall  take  great  interest  in  this  work  and  I do  not  think  there 
is  any  probability  that  you  will  ever  be  called  upon  for  a farthing. 
The  generous  spirit  of  your  letter  is  a reference. 

“I  only  wish  to  know  if  you  will  take  the  above  risk.  The  publi- 
cation will  be  solely  for  the  benefit  of  Hawthorne,  he  receiving  10 
per  cent,  on  the  retail  price — the  usual  terms. 

“Iam  yours  resp’y, 

S.  G.  Goodrich. 

“ Horatio  Bridge,  Esq., 

Augusta,  Maine.” 

It  is  difficult  to  conceive  what  could  have  been  the  mo- 
tive for  the  printing  of  some  of  Hawthorne's  petty  com- 
plaints during  the  period  which  preceded  the  appearance 
of  this  book. 

After  retiring  from  the  publishing  business  Mr.  Good- 
rich devoted  his  time  to  authorship,  becoming  the  most 
voluminous  of  any  American  author,  the  series  of  Peter 
Parley's  juvenile  books  alone  embracing  more  than  100 
volumes,  comprising  histories,  travels,  geographies,  and 
illustrating  the  arts  and  sciences.  In  addition  to  these 
there  are  fully  as  large  a number  in  the  various  departments 
of  educational  literature. 

The  first  volume  of  Peter  Parley's  series  was  entitled 
Tales  of  Peter  Parley  about  America,  published  in  1827. 
It  was  quickly  followed  by  Tales  of  Peter  Parley  about 
Europe,  Parley's  Winter  Evening  Tales,  Parley’s  Asia, 
Parley's  Africa,  Parley’s  Sun,  Moon  and  Stars,  and  many 
others. 

Their  great  popularity  in  this  country  led  to  their  pub- 


116 


S.  G.  GOODRICH. 


lication  on  the  other  side.  Mr.  Tegg,  a London  publisher, 
undertook  their  re-publication  and  paid  Mr.  Goodrich  a 
moderate  sum  for  the  sale  of  the  same  ; this  soon  ceased, 
however,  as  Tegg  found  it  easy  to  have  volumes  prepared  by 
other  writers  using  the  name  and  fame  of  Peter  Parley,  to 
create  a large  circulation.  Mr.  Goodrich  also  published 
school  histories  of  the  United  States,  England,  France, 
Greece  and  Rome,  the  sale  of  which  has  been  as  large  as 
50,000  volumes  annually,  the  copyrights  received  remain- 
ing for  many  years  a source  of  income  to  his  family. 

In  a little  volume  entitled  Peter  Parley’s  Geography 
for  Children,  is  a picture  representing  him  sitting  in  a 
chair,  with  his  lame  foot  bound  up,  and  a crutch  at  his 
side,  while  he  is  saying  to  to  the  boys  around,  “ Take  care, 
don’t  touch  my  gouty  toe  ; if  you  do,  I won’t  tell  you  any 
more  stories.”  Of  this  work  more  than  2,000,000  copies 
were  sold,  and,  of  course,  Peter  Parley  and  his  crutch  were 
pretty  generally  associated  together  in  the  minds  of 
children. 

To  represent  what  an  impression  this  picture  produced 
in  the  minds  of  young  people,  it  will  be  well  to  give  Peter 
Parley’s  own  words  : 

“ On  another  occasion,”  he  says,  “ I think  at  Savannah,  a gentle- 
man called  upon  me,  introducting  his  two  grandchildren  who  were 
anxious  to  see  Peter  Parley.  The  girl  rushed  up  to  me,  and  gave  me 
a ringing  kiss  at  once.  We  were  immediately  the  best  friends  in  the 
world.  The  boy  on  the  contrary  held  himself  aloof  and  ran  his  eye 
over  me  up  and  down,  from  top  to  toe.  He  then  walked  around 
surveying  me  with  the  most  scrutinizing  gaze.  After  this  he  sat 
down,  and  during  the  interview  took  no  further  notice  of  me.  At 
parting  he  gave  me  a keen  look  but  said  not  a word.  The  next  day 
the  gentleman  called  and  told  me  that  his  grandson,  as  they  were 
on  their  way  home,  said  to  him  : — ‘ Grandfather,  I wouldn’t  have 
anything  to  do  with  that  man  ; he  ain’t  Peter  Parley.’  ‘How  do  you 
know  that  ?’  said  the  grandfather.  ‘Because,’  said  the  boy,  ‘he 
hasn’t  got  his  foot  bound  up,  and  he  don’t  walk  with  a crutch  ! ’ ” 

Indeed  the  impression  of  the  little  boy  was  shared  by 


S.  G.  GOODRICH. 


117 


others  than  himself,  and  some,  even  among  older  persons, 
think  still  of  Peter  Parley  as  lame,  with  a gouty  toe  and 
crutch.  * 

In  the  year  1850,  Mr.  Goodrich  completed  a work  on 
an  extensive  scale,  entitled  : “ A History  of  All  Nations," 
the  publication  of  which,  in  two  large  octavo  volumes,  pro- 
fusely illustrated,  had  been  undertaken  by  the  firm  of 
Wilkins,  Carter  & Co.,  now  ltice,  Kendall,  & Co.,  a large 
paper  house  in  Boston.  But  one  volume  of  the  work  was 
published,  when  the  author  was  appointed  by  President 
Pillmore,  United  States  Consul  in  Paris.  Mr.  Goodrich, 
before  leaving  the  country  to  fill  his  official  position,  met 
me  in  New  York,  and  completed  negotiations  with  me  to 
undertake  the  publication  of  this  work,  as  it  was  out  of  the 
line  of  business  of  the  then  publishers,  who  desired  the 
change  as  much  as  he  did.  In  consequence,  the  transfer 
was  then  made. 

This  Avas  the  first  subscription  book  published  by  my 
firm,  Derby  & Miller,  and  the  price,  although  placed  at  a 
high  figure,  did  not  prevent  the  sale  of  tens  of  thousands 
of  copies.  It  was  a good  work,  Avell  illustrated,  and  gave 
satisfaction  to  purchasers. 

In  1859,  after  my  removal  to  New  York,  the  firm  of 

* Mr.  Augustus  Gaylord,  an  old  and  valued  friend,  writes  me 
under  date  of  Oct.  18tli,  1883: — “ A disillusion  of  childhood — which 
to  this  day  I scarcely  recall  without  a sigh — hangs  around  the  old 
Nassau  street  office — in  this  wise  : An  early  boyhood’s  book  lies 
vividly  before  me  now  as  then,  ‘ Peter  Parley's  Tales,’  in  which  hour 
after  hour  my  youthful  soul  delighted,  Avith  its  frontispiece — a long- 
haired, quaker-hatted  venerable  old  man,  crutch  at  his  side,  ban- 
daged foot  extended  on  a chair,  with  the  added  warning  to  a group 
of  eager  children,  ‘ Don’t  hurt  my  sore  toe  or  I’ll  not  tell  you  another 
story.’  Tender  sympathy  for  the  old  gentleman  had  tilled  my  heart 
all  the  way  to  manhood,  until  meeting  him  by  engagement  at  your 
office,  on  his  return  from  Europe,  I was  introduced  by  you  to  the 
Parisian  dressed  and  hatted  S.  G.  Goodrich,  with  his  neatly  dressed 
and  curly  wig — as  the  veritable  Peter  Parley.  The  shock  was  severe, 
but  it  never  dethroned  my  ideal — and  when  later,  after  pleasant 
acquaintance  we  had  a laugh  over  my  disillusion,  I told  him  I had 
thereby  the  pleasure  of  the  two  friends — but  always  separate  and  dis- 
tinct.” 


118 


S.  G.  GOODRICH. 


Derby  & Jackson  became  his  publishers,  issuing  from  our 
press  the  last  two  of  Peter  Parley's  Tales  ever  written  by 
him,  entitled,  “ The  Balloon  Travels  of  Robert  Merry  and 
his  Young  Friends  over  various  Countries  of  Europe  ” and 
“ Gilbert  Goaheaa’s  Adventures  and  Travels  in  Foreign 
Parts/’  These  were  soon  followed  by  a more  pretentious 
volume,  the  descriptive  title  of  which  was  as  follows  : — 


“ Peter  Parley’s  Thousand  and  One  Stories  of  Fact  and  Fancy, 
Wit  and  Humor,  Rhyme,  Reason  and  Romance.  Edited  by  S.  G. 
Goodrich.  The  intention  of  this  book  is  to  bring  whole  libraries 
into  a single  volume — to  furnish  a mental  meal  for  every  day,  every 
hour, — for  every  taste,  humor,  age,  caprice — a book  of  books  for  the 
grave  and  gay,  the  old  and  young  ; therefore  we  have  Science  and 
Philosophy,  Rhyme  and  Reason,  Wit  and  Wisdom,  Fact  and  Fancy, 
which  put  together  as  they  come,  produce  a sort  of  intellectual  plum 
pudding,  inasmuch  as  the  whole  is  peppered  and  spiced  with  puns, 
conundrums,  drolleries,  and  other  ‘ Milledulcia  ’ to  say  nothing  of  a 
garnish  of  three  hundred  engravings.” 

The  very  last  book  ever  written  by  Mr.  Goodrich,  as  well 
as  the  most  important  and  extensive,  was  entitled  : “ Illus- 
trated Natural  History  of  the  Animal  Kingdom  ; being  a 
Systematic  and  Popular  Description  of  the  Habits,  Struc- 
ture, and  Classification  of  Animals,  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest  forms,  with  their  relation  to  Agriculture,  Com- 
merce, Manufactures,  and  the  Arts,  by  S.  G.  Goodrich 
(Peter  Parley),  with  1,500  engravings.” 

This  work,  which  was  sold  by  subscription  only,  reached 
the  sale  of  many  thousand  copies,  was  dedicated  to  Professor 
Louis  Agassiz — himself,  perhaps,  at  that  time  the  greatest 
authority  on  natural  history.  He  was  then  a professor  in 
Harvard  University.  I took  a copy  of  this  book  with  a note 
of  introduction  from  Mr.  Goodrich  to  Professor  Agassiz, 
who  seemed  greatly  pleased  with  the  popular  arrangement 
of  the  work,  and  admired  the  attractive  appearance  of  its 
mechanical  execution  as  well  as  the  pertinent  illustrations. 
He  gave  me  a strong  letter  of  indorsement,  commending 


S.  G.  GOODRICH. 


119 


the  work  to  the  patronage  of  the  public.  This  was  the 
first  and  only  time  I met  this  distinguished  scholar. 

Mr.  Goodrich  was  a good  and  racy  talker,  and  related 
many  anecdotes  of  distinguished  people  he  had  met. 

Among  others  was  his  first  meeting  with  Sir  Walter 
Scott.  At  that  time  the  author  of  “ Waverley  ” was  clerk 
of  a court  consisting  of  three  judges,  who  were  them- 
selves distinguished  in  literature.  On  one  occasion  he 
dined  with  J.  G.  Lockhart,  the  son-in-law  of  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Among  the  guests  were  Sir  Walter  and  William  Blackwood, 
the  founder  of  Blackwood's  Magazine.  After  dinner  both 
Lockhart  and  Blackwood  told  stories,  thus  passing  a pleas- 
ant half-hour.  The  wine  at  last  was  rather  low,  and,  Mr. 
Goodrich  says,  the  host  ordered  the  servant  to  bring  more, 
but  Sir  Walter  said  : 

“No,  no,  Lokert” — such  was  his  pronunciation  of  his 
son-in-law’s  name — “ we  have  had  enough  ; let  us  go  and 
see  the  ladies.”  And  so  they  went  into  the  parlor. 

On  another  occasion  Mr.  Goodrich  related  to  me  a con- 
versation he  had  with  the  same  parties  on  the  merits  of  J. 
Fenimore  Cooper,  who  was  then  just  publishing  his  famous 
novels.  Mr.  Goodrich  gives  the  following  interesting 
account  of  this  talk  in  his  “ Recollections,”  before  referred 
to,  as  follows  : — 


Mr.  Lockhart  said  : — “ I have  lately  been  reading  an  exceedingly 
clever  American  novel,  entitled  ‘ The  Pioneers  ’ by  Cooper.  His 
descriptive  power  is  very  great,  and  I think  he  has  opened  a new 
field  of  romance,  especially  in  the  hunters  along  the  frontier,  who  in 
their  intercourse  with  savages  have  become  half  savages  themselves. 
This  border  life  is  full  of  incident,  adventure  and  poetry,  while  the 
character  of  Leather-stocking  is  original  and  striking.” 

“ I have  not  seen  ‘ The  Pioneers,’  ” said  Scott,  “ but  I have  read 
The  Pilot,’  by  the  same  author,  which  has  just  been  published.  It  is 
very  clever,  and  I think  it  will  turn  out  that  his  strength  lies  in 
depicting  sea  life  and  adventures.  We  really  have  no  good  sea  tales, 
and  here  is  a wide  field  open  to  a man  of  true  genius.” 


120 


S.  G.  GOODRICH. 


In  the  year  1859,  Mr.  Goodrich  decided  to  retire  from 
active  work  in  authorship.  He  had  a competence  which  he 
derived  from  his  copyrights,  and  therefore  made  up  his 
mind  that  he  would  enjoy,  as  far  as  his  health  would  per- 
mit, the  fruits  of  his  literary  work.  He  arranged  with  me 
for  a desk  in  our  publishing  office  on  Broadway.  “Just 
to  have  a place,”  as  he  said,  “where  I can  meet  friends  and 
write  occasional  letters,”  his  residence  being  then  on  Ninth 
Street. 

On  the  9th  day  of  May,  1860,  he  bade  us  good-bye 
according  to  his  usual  custom,  as  he  left  the  store  for  home. 
The  next  morning  I was  startled  to  read  of  his  sudden 
death,  which  occurred  early  in  the  evening  from  heart 
disease. 

During  one  of  our  conversations,  he  had  informed  me 
that  in  early  life  he  had  been  troubled  with  an  organic 
affection  of  his  heart.  In  the  spring  of  1832,  he  traveled 
in  Europe  consulting  the  most  eminent  specialists  of 
London,  Paris  and  Edinburgh,  in  diseases  of  the  heart. 
He  was  informed  by  Baron  Louis  and  others  that  with  care 
he  might  live  twenty  years  longer.  He  did  live  nearly 
thirty  years  longer. 

From  a collection  of  old  letters  placed  at  my  disposal, 
I derive  some  interesting  details  of  Mr.  Goodrich's  early 
life.  It  seems  that  when,  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine  years, 
he  made  a voyage  to  England,  he  went  armed  with  very 
flattering  credentials  for  so  young  a man.  Oliver  Wolcott, 
Governor  of  Connecticut,  spoke  of  him  as  “ a gentleman 
of  good  habits  and  perfect  integrity,”  and  again  as  “pos- 
sessing unusual  industry  and  perseverance,  and  being  of 
accomplished  manners  and  address.”  John  Quincy  Adams 
sent  him  three  letters.  Dewitt  Clinton  presented  him  to 
John  Jacob  Astor ; Timothy  Pitkin  to  Richard  Rush  ; 
Benjamin  Silliman  spoke  of  his  family  as  “ having  been 
long  distinguished  for  worth  and  respectability.”  At  a 
later  period,  Daniel  Webster,  in  an  autograph  letter  of  four 
pages,  introduced  him  to  Lord  Ashley,  as  “the  author  of 


S.  G.  GOODKICH. 


121 


the  various  publications  which  have  appeared  under  the 
name  of  Peter  Parley.” 

Prom  the  same  album  I take  the  following  letters  and 
fragments  of  letters,  addressed  to  Mr.  Goodrich  : 


“ Clapton,  June  20th,  ’47. 


“Dear  Sir: — 

“We  are  very  much  pleased  to  be  made  aware  that  you  are  now 
in  town.  We  are  extremely  busy  people,  as  you  will  believe,  and 
yet  are  always  glad  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  the  good  and  the 
great,  and  can  manage  to  find  time  for  that.  We  like  our  friends  to 
come  to  us  in  the  evening.  Can  you  come  on  Sunday  ? We  are 
very  old-fashioned  folks,  and  on  Sundays  take  tea  at  six  o’clock. 
Your  coming  will  delight  and  amaze  the  children.  They  have  seen 
so  many  pictures  of  Peter  Parley  and  know  him  so  well  by  idea. 

“ I am,  dear  sir, 

Yours  truty, 

Mary  Howitt.” 


“Gore  House,  Sept.  30th,  1842. 

‘ ‘ Dear  Sir  : — 

“I  cannot  consign  to  your  care  a parcel  and  letter  for  Mr.  Sigour- 
ney without  thanking  you  for  the  charming  little  volume  you  were 
so  obliging  as  to  send  me.  I have  perused  it  with  great  pleasure,  as 
I have  every  word  from  your  gifted  pen,  and  hope  you  will  do  me 
the  favor  of  calling  on  me  again,  that  I may  repeat  to  you  in  person, 
the  satisfaction  we  have  all  had  in  making  your  acquaintance.  Count 
d’Orsay  and  Miss  Power  unite  with  me  in  kind  regards,  and  I 
remain,  Dear  sir, 


Very  truly  yours, 

M.  Blessington.” 


Among  the  letters  connected  with  Mr.  GoodriclPs 
editorship  of  the  Token  I find  one  from  G.  W.  Doane  (then 
rector  of  Trinity,  in  Boston,  and  afterwards  Bishop  of  Mew 
Jersey),  speaking  of  the  Token  for  that  year  as  an  “ exquis- 
ite volume,”  but  deploring  a typographical  error  in  a poem 
contributed  by  him ; one  from  Bryant  declining,  for  want 
of  time,  a “ liberal  offer  " to  illustrate  an  engraving  by 
Hatch  from  a design  by  Inman,  but  stating  that  he  would 
rather  write  for  the  Token  than  any  other  annual  ; one 


122 


S.  G.  GOODRICH. 


from  John  Quincy  Adams  offering  a fable ; one  from 
Hannah  F.  Gould  sending  eight  articles,  from  which  the 
editor  was  to  choose  one  ; another  from  Jared  Sparks  pro- 
posing a sketch  of  a scene  on  the  North  River,  to  be  en- 
graved on  steel,  &c.  &c. 

Rufus  M.  Griswold  says  in  his  Poets  and  Poetry  of 
America: — 

“ Mr.  Goodrich  has  been  a liberal  patron  of  American  authors 
and  artists;  and  it  is  questionable  whether  any  otber  person  has  done 
as  much  to  improve  the  style  of  the  book  manufacture,  or  to  promote 
the  arts  of  engraving.  It  is  believed  that  he  has  put  in  circulation 
more  than  two  millions  of  volumes  of  his  own  productions  ; all  of 
which  inculcate  pure  morality  and  cheerful  views  of  life.  His  style 
is  simple  and  unaffected  ; the  flow  of  his  verse,  melodious  ; and  his 
subjects  generally,  such  as  he  is  capable  of  treating  most  success- 
fully.” 

The  experience  of  Mr.  Goodrich  as  an  author  was,  in 
one  respect,  remarkable,  I may  say,  altogether  exceptional. 
Some  two  hundred  Parley  books,  more  or  less  fraudulent, 
have  been  published  in  this  country  and  in  England,  in- 
cluding annuals,  gifts,  almanacs,  visits,  peeps,  and  rose- 
buds. 

An  edition  of  one  of  these  in  sheets,  was  sent  from 
London  to  New  York,  where  it  was  intended  to  bind  them, 
and  then  throw  them  upon  the  market.  They  were  seized 
and  held,  however,  and  the  English  pirates  compelled  to 
pay  a round  sum  to  get  their  property  back.  The  princi- 
pal foreign  offender  in  this  respect  was  Thomas  Tegg  (as 
has  been  mentioned),  as  publisher,  and  one  George 
Mogridge,  better  known  as  “ Old  Humphrey,"  as  author. 
A spurious  and  mutilated  edition  of  “Recollections  of  a 
Lifetime"  appeared  in  New  York  a quarter  of  a century 
after  Mr.  Goodrich’s  death,  with  a new  and  deceptive  title- 
page.  The  Parley  books  have  been  translated  into,  and 
published  in,  nearly  every  foreign  language,  including 
modern  Greek  and  Persian.  A New  York  firm  occasion- 
ally sends  a few  hundred  copies  of  one  of  them  to  Japan. 


FRANK  B.  GOODRICH. 


123 


Blind  asylums  print,  from  time  to  time,  a few  hundred 
copies  of  the  same  book  in  raised  characters,  free  of  copy- 
right. 

Of  the  genuine  issue  not  far  from  eleven  millions  of 
volumes  have  been  sold  up  to  the  present  time. 


FRANK  B.  GOODRICH. 

Dick  Tinto  and  New  York  Times — The  Court  of  Napoleon 
— Beauties , Wits  and  Heroines — Women  of  Beauty — 
Magnificent  Tribute  Book — Literary  talents  inherited. 

O 00N  after  the  establishment  of  the  New  York  Daily 
^ Times , its  readers  became  interested  in  the  bright  and 
sparkling  letters  from  its  Paris  correspondent,  which  were 
signed  Dick  Tinto,  the  nom-de-plume  of  Frank  B.  Good- 
rich, the  only  son  of  Samuel  G.  Goodrich  (Peter  Parley). 
These  letters  created  sufficient  interest  in  the  public  mind 
to  warrant  their  publication  by  the  Harpers. 

Mr.  Goodrich  returned  to  New  York  the  following 
year,  when  my  firm  engaged  him  to  prepare  for  publica- 
tion a work  to  be  entitled  “ The  Court  of  Napoleon/’ 
somewhat  after  the  plan  of  Griswold’s  “Republican  Court 
of  Washington.” 

The  Emperor  Louis  Napoleon,  during  Mr.  Goodrich’s 
stay  in  Paris,  was  in  the  height  of  his  popularity,  the 
Second  Empire  being  then  the  glory  of  every  Frenchman. 

John  S.  C.  Abbott  had  written  for  the  Harpers  his  fa- 
mous Life  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  which,  my 
bookselling  readers  will  remember,  met  with  an  enormous 
sale.  This  was  in  the  year  1856,  and  it  being  a prosperous 
year,  it  was  thought  a good  time  to  undertake  the  publica- 
tion of  the  following  : 


124 


FRANK  B.  GOODRICH. 


THE  COURT  OF  NAPOLEON; 

OR, 

SOCIETY  UNDER  THE  FIRST  EMPIRE. 

WITH 

SIXTEEN  PORTRAITS  OF  ITS  BEAUTIES,  WITS  AND 
HEROINES. 

The  plan  of  this  work  is  to  present  in  one  view  the  pas- 
sage of  French  society  from  the  confusion  into  which  it 
was  thrown  hy  the  Revolution,  to  a -regular  and  normal 
situation,  under  the  dictatorship  of  Napoleon.  The  various 
periods  treated  of  are  illustrated  hy  their  remarkable  wo- 
men— the  Reign  of  Terror  hy  its  heroines — the  directory 
hy  its  celebrated  beauties — the  Consulate  and  Empire  by 
the  wits  and  belles  of  the  Imperial  Era. 

(1.)  Charlotte  Cord  ay, 

(2.)  Madame  Roland, 

(3.)  Madame  Tallien, 

(4.)  Madame  Recamier,  whose  love  was  sought  by  Napoleon  and 
Lucien  Bonaparte,  Bernadotte,  Murat,  Junot,  the  Mont- 
morencies  (father  and  son),  Augustus,  Prince  of  Prussia, 
and  Lord  Wellington,  and  “whose  beauty  threw  at  her 
feet  every  man  who  had  once  looked  upon  her.” 

(5.)  Pauline  Bonaparte,  the  most  beautiful  princess  in  Europe, 
and  whose  fantastic  and  uncontrollable  caprices  gave  her 
brother  constant  annoyance. 

(G.)  Caroline  Bonaparte,  wife  of  Murat  and  Queen  of  Na- 
ples. 

| the  two  Empresses. 

(9.)  IIortense  de  BEAunARNAis,  daughter  of  Josephine  and 
mother  of  Louis  Napoleon  and  the  Count  de  Morny. 

(10.)  Grace  Ingersoll,  the  Belle  of  New  Haven,  transferred  by 
marriage  to  France,  and  subsequently  one  of  the  beauties 
who  frequented  the  Court  of  the  Tuileries. 


FRANK  B.  GOODRICH. 


125 


(11.)  M’lle  du  Colombier,  Napoleon’s  first  love,  with  whom  he 
used  to  eat  cherries  at  six  in  the  morning. 

(12.)  Madame  Regnault  de  St.  Jean  d’Angely,  a peerless 
beauty,  one  of  whose  replies  to  Napoleon  has  become  his- 
torical. Napoleon  said  to  her  at  a ball,  “ Do  you  know, 
Madame  Regnault,  that  you  are  looking  much  older  ? ” 
She  answered  at  once,  and  in  the  hearing  of  an  hundred 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  “The  observation  which  you  have 
done  me  the  honor  to  make,  sire,  might  possibly  have 
given  me  pain,  had  I arrived  at  a period  when  youth  is 
regretted.”  She  was  twenty-eight  years  old. 

(13.)  Madame  Junot,  Duchess  d’Abrantes.  This  lady  refused 
Napoleon’s  brother  in  marriage  ; her  brother  would  not 
accept  Napoleon’s  sister,  Pauline,  and  her  mother, 
Madame  de  Permon,  refused  Napoleon  himself.  The  first 
daughter,  Josephine  Junot,  was  Napoleon’s  first  god- 
child. 

(14.)  Madame  de  Stael,  the  first  literary  woman  of  the  age. 

(15.)  M’lle  Lenormand,  the  sibyl  of  the  19th  century,  and  the 
intimate  confidant  of  Josephine  ; of  whom  it  was  said  that 
“ she  contrived  to  obtain  credence  in  an  age  which  neither 
believed  in  God  and  his  angels,  nor  the  devil  and  his 
imps.” 

(16,)  M’lle  Georges,  the  tragic  actress  and  the  protegee  of  Na- 
poleon. 

The  book  is  printed  on  a new  font  of  pica  type,  cast 
purposely  for  it,  upon  extra-sized  and  calendered  paper, 
made  to  order,  and  bound  in  real  Turkey  antique,  with 
original  designs  by  Somerville.  The  illustrations,  from 
original  portraits  in  the  galleries  of  the  Luxembourg  and 
Versailles,  sixteen  in  number,  are  executed  by  M.  Jules 
Champagne,  the  most  celebrated  artist,  in  his  line,  in  Paris, 
and  as  will  be  seen  by  the  extract  from  a letter  just  received 
from  him,  are  each  one  colored  by  hand  : 

From  the  Engraver’s  Letter  to  the  Author. 

“The  filling  of  your  order  of  6,000  copies — 96,000  faces  to  be  col- 
ored by  hand — requires,  as  you  must  suppose,  immense  labor,  and 
no  little  time.  Still  I hope  to  be  able  to  execute  your  commands  by 
the  date  specified. 

“It  is  not  the  pecuniary  advantage  which  I may  derive  from  this 


126 


FRANK  B.  GOODRICH. 


work  which  led  me  to  undertake  it  ; it  was  the  hope  that,  with  your 
aid,  I may  create  for  myself  an  honorable  artistic  reputation  in  your 
country  Signed,  Jules  Champagne.” 

From,  a Letter  from  Dr.  Wm.  E.  Johnson,  a distinguished  American 
'physician,  resident  at  Paris,  to  the  Author. 

‘ ‘ I saw  the  first  proofs  of  your  engravings  to-day.  They  are 
truly  exquisite.  I have  never  seen  anything  more  perfect.  On  the 
whole,  and  with  the  finest  engravings  of  Paris  daily  before  my  eyes 
for  comparison,  I find  myself  able  to  say  that  M.  Champagne  has 
perfectly  succeeded  in  producing  an  exceptional  work.” 

Mr.  Goodrich  performed  his  part  in  the  most  creditable 
manner,  and  the  paper-makers,  printers  and  binders  united 
in  their  efforts  to  make  The  Court  of  Napoleon  the  most 
superb  illustrated  volume  yet  produced  in  America. 

Three  years  later,  Mr.  Goodrich  prepared  for  my  firm  a 
companion  volume,  uniform  in  size  and  price,  entitled, 
Women  of  Beauty  and  Heroism,  from  Semiramis  to  Eugenie, 
a portrait  gallery  of  female  loveliness,  achievement  and 
influence.  It  was  illustrated  with  nineteen  superb  steel 
engravings. 

In  1865  the  same  author  prepared  a volume  entitled  The 
Tribute  Book,  of  which  an  extended  account  is  given  in 
the  sketch  of  Mr.  George  Jones  of  the  Times. 

Mr.  Goodrich  inherits  much  of  the  talent  of  his  cele- 
brated father— a pleasant  and  genial  gentleman,  who  is 
always  welcome  where  he  most  delights  to  be,  amidst 
literary  circles  and  in  the  homes  of  culture  and  refinement. 

I may  add,  that,  among  other  literary  enterprises  with 
which  Mr.  Goodrich  has  been  identified,  was  a translation 
into  English  of  the  writings  of  the  celebrated  French  author 
Honore  de  Balzac,  which  G.  W.  Carleton  & Co.  undertook, 
in  1860,  to  introduce  to  American  readers.  The  enterprise, 
however,  not  proving  successful,  was  relinquished  after  five 
novels  were  published. 


V. 


HORACE  GREELEY— THOMAS  McELRATH. 

Horace  Greeley’s  New  Yorker — Founder  of  the  New  York 
Tribune — Meets  Thomas  McElrath — Writes  Author 
about  Loco-Focos — Solon  Robinson’s  Hot  Corn — His 
American  Co7iflict — Recollections  of  a Busy  Life — 
Home  at  Chappaqua — Phoebe  Cary  Visits  Him — Ilis 
Opinion  of  Thurlow  Weed — Robert  Bonner  Captures 
Horace  Greeley — How  Greeley  and  McElrath  crossed 
a Ferry — Closing  Incidents  of  His  Life — Death  of 
Horace  Greeley — Banker  Poet  Stedman’s  Tribute  to 
his  Memory. 

‘'VT  EARLY  fifty  years  ago,  I became  a subscriber  to  the 
^ New  Yorker , a weekly  newspaper,  edited  and  pub- 
lished by  Horace  Greeley.  Ten  years  later,  while  a book- 
seller at  Auburn,  I became  a correspondent  of  Mr.  Greeley’s 
and  the  ageut  to  obtain  subscribers  to  his  paper  in  that 
section. 

Mr.  Partou,  in  his  biography  of  Horace  Greeley,  says 
the  New  Yorker  was  incomparably  the  best  newspaper  of 
its  kind  ever  published  in  this  country,”  in  which  opinion 
I fully  coincide.  It  seemed  to  fill  a void  for  the  tastes  of  a 
class  of  readers  who  were  inclined  to  well-written  original 
articles,  and  literary  matter  selected  with  such  great  taste 
and  care,  while  the  current  news  of  the  day  was  sufficient 
to  meet  the  ‘wants  of  the  general  readers  of  the  paper. 

My  first  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Greeley  commenced  in 
1841,  the  year  in  which  the  New  Yorker  was  discontinued, 
and  our  friendly  relations  continued  uninterrupted  to  the 
day  of  his  death. 


[1271 


128 


HORACE  GREELEY. 


The  New  Yorker  was  published  on  the  credit  system, 
which  was  the  rule  with  nearly  all  newspapers  in  those  days, 
the  present  cash  in  advance  system  not  being  so  vigorously 
adhered  to  as  at  present,  and  if  I remember  rightly,  was 
then  unknown.  The  large  losses  occurring  from  non-pay- 
ing subscribers  caused  the  collapse  of  a good  newspaper, 
which  had  become  a general  favorite  throughout  the 
country. 

In  the  same  year  of  the  failure  of  the  New  Yorker , 
Mr.  Greeley  founded  the  New  York  Tribune , which  soon 
became  the  favorite  newspaper  of  the  booksellers,  and 
especially  the  publishers  of  books. 

In  the  month  of  July  of  the  same  year,  he  associated 
himself  with  Thomas  McElrath,  who  had  been  a book-pub- 
lisher under  the  firm  name  of  McElrath  & Bangs.  As  both 
Mr.  Greeley  and  Mr.  McElrath  became  authors  of  books,  as 
well  as  publishers  of  newspapers,  and  the  name  of  the  firm 
was  soon  familiar  to  the  public,  their  articles  of  agreement 
may  be  of  sufficient  interest  to  give  to  my  readers. 

“ The  undersigned  has  great  pleasure  in  announcing  to  his 
friends  and  the  public,  that  he  has  formed  a co-partnership  with 
Thomas  McElrath,  and  that  the  Tribune  will  hereafter  be  published 
by  himself  and  Mr.  M.  under  the  firm  of  Greeley  & McElrath. 
The  principal  editorial  charges  of  the  paper  will  still  rest  with 
the  subscriber  ; while  the  entire  business  management  of  the  con- 
cern henceforth  devolves  upon  his  partner. 

“ This  arrangement,  while  it  relieves  the  undersigned  from  a 
large  portion  of  the  labors  and  cares  which  have  pressed  heavily 
upon  him  for  the  last  four  months,  assures  to  the  paper  efficiency 
and  strength  in  a department  where  they  have  hitherto  been 
needed;  and  I cannot  be  mistaken  in  the  trust  that  the  accession 
to  its  conduct  of  a gentleman  who  has  twice  been  honored  with 
their  suffrages  for  an  important  station,  will  strengthen  the 
Tribune  in  the  confidence  and  affectious  of  the  Whigs  of  New 
York. 

“ Respectfully, 

Horace  Greeley. 

“July  31st,  1841.” 


HORACE  GREELEY. 


129 


Mr.  McElrath  was  as  thorough  a business  man  as  his 
partner  was  a journalist,  and  their  firm  continued  pub- 
lishers of  the  Tribune  until  it  was  merged  into  the  Tribune 
Association,  when  Mr.  Charles  A.  Dana  became  the  man- 
aging editor,  and  a brilliant  staff  of  other  writers  was  added 
to  the  corps  of  editors,  Mr.  McElrath  retiring  from  the 
paper. 

During  my  residence  at  Auburn,  I was  an  occasional 
correspondent  of  the  Editor  of  the  Tribune , having  identi- 
fied myself  actively  witli  the  Whig  party  and  with  Mr. 
Greeley,  a warm  admirer  of  Henry  Clay.  The  following  is 
one  of  Mr.  Greeley’s  characteristic  letters,  of  which  I have 
the  original  in  his  familiar  chirography. 


“New  York,  Oct.  3,  1846. 

“ J.  C.  Derby: 

“ Dear  Sir  : — We  have  not  quite  got  things  in  shape  yet,  but 
we  shall  do  so  by  the  close  of  next  week.  Our  nominations  are 
generally  good,  and  things  are  working  well.  But  we  must  cal- 
culate on  4,000  against  us  in  the  city  on  account  of  Nativeism  and 
the  clamor  against  “ niggers.”  If  we  get  off  with  that  number  we 
shall  have  done  well,  but  I do  not  despair  of  doing  still  better. 
We  have  a report  to-day  that  the  Natives  have  induced  a promi- 
nent Loco-Foco  to  accept  their  nomination  for  Governor.  I hope 
this  is  so.  They  have  been  trying  Ogden  Edwards,  but  I rather 
guess  he  is  off.  Let  me  hear  how  matters  shape,  when  the  Locos 
make  their  nomination  and  whether  the  old  Hunkers  go  in  for 
Wright  generally.  I am  afraid  you  won’t  make  the  best  nomina- 
tion for  Senator,  but  hope  for  the  best.  Give  us  the  best  you  can 
do  this  fall.  Yours, 

(Signed)  Horace  Greeley. 

“ P.  S. — I have  at  last  noticed  your  Seward’s  eloquent  defense 
of  William  Freeman,  and  mean  to  say  more  about  it,  if  I ever  find 
room.” 

The  above  was  doubtless  more  easily  deciphered  than 
that  referred  to  in  the  following  amusing  anecdote  : 

The  editor  of  the  Tribune  was  once  invited  to  lecture  in 

6* 


130 


HORACE  GREELEY. 


Sandwich,  Illinois.  In  reply  to  the  invitation,  he  is  re- 
ported to  have  said  : 

“Dear  Sir — I am  overworked  and  growing  old  I shall  be 
sixty  next  February  3.  On  the  whole  it  seems  I must  decline  to 
lecture  henceforth,  except  in  this  immediate  vicinity,  if  I do  at  all. 
I cannot  promise  to  visit  Illinois  on  that  errand — certainly  not 
now.  “Yours, 

, Horace  Greeley. 

M.  B.  Castle, 

Sandwich,  Ills. 

This  letter,  though  intelligible  enough  in  print,  seemed 
hieroglyphics  to  the  lecture  committee  of  the  town  of 
Sandwich.  They  finally  succeeded,  as  the  story  runs, 
with  the  aid  of  several  experts,  in  deciphering  its  contents, 
to  their  evident  satisfaction,  as  the  annexed  reply  will  show: 

“Sandwich,  111.,  May  12. 

“ Horace  Greeley. 

Dear  Sir: — Your  acceptance  to  lecture  before  our  association 
next  winter  came  to  hand  this  morning.  Your  penmanship  not 
being  the  plainest,  it  took  some  time  to  translate  it,  but  we  suc- 
ceeded, and  would  say  your  time,  3d  of  February,  and  terms,  $60, 
are  entirely  satisfactory.  As  you  suggest,  we  may  be  able  to  get 
you  engagements  in  this  immediate  vicinity  ; if  so,  we  will  advise 
you.  “Yours  respectfully, 

M.  B.  Castle. 

In  the  year  1853  Solon  Robinson,  agricultural  editor  of 
the  New  York  Tribune,  and  subsequent  author  of  an  im- 
portant agricultural  work,  entitled  Facts  for  Farmers, 
wrote  occasional  sketches  in  the  city  editor’s  department. 

One  of  these  sketches,  Hot  Corn,  struck  a popular 
chord  and  became  famous,  and  it  proved  to  be  the  nucleus 
of  a book  of  city  sketches,  originally  published  in  the  Tri- 
bune, comprising  stories  of  city  life  among  the  poorer 
classes,  written  in  a style  that  touched  the  hearts  of  the 
people. 


HORACE  GREELEY. 


131 


The  book  was  published  under  the  title,  Hot  Corn  ; or, 
Life  Scenes  in  New  York,  and  reached  in  six  months  the 
phenomenal  sale,  for  such  a book,  of  more  than  fifty  thou- 
sand copies. 

Mr.  Greeley  was  the  author  of  several  books.  His  first 
volume,  Hints  toward  Reform,  was  published  in  1850,  by 
Harper  & Bros.,  they  agreeing  to  pay  the  author  ten  cents 
per  copy,  provided  the  latter  paid  for  the  stereotype  plates. 
The  sale  of  the  book  brought  him  a sufficient  sum  to  reim- 
burse him  for  his  outlay. 

His  next  book,  entitled  Glances  at  Europe,  was  made 
up  from  his  letters  to  the  Tribune  while  traveling  abroad. 
He  was  paid  about  five  hundred  dollars  copyright  on  that 
volume,  without  incurring  any  pecuniary  risk.  Mr.  Greeley 
very  naively  says  : “ Had  the  work  been  profounder  and 
less  deserving,  I presume  it  would  not  have  sold  so  well.” 

Mr.  Greeley  also  prepared  an  enlarged  edition  of  Epes 
Sargent’s  Life  of  Henry  Clay,  which  my  firm  published  in 
1852.  Although  the  sale  was  not  large,  the  book  gave 
satisfaction  to  the  friends  of  Mr.  Clay,  who  died  during 
the  same  year. 

The  most  important  and  valuable  book  written  by  Mr. 
Greeley  was  entitled  The  American  Conflict.  It  was  pub- 
lished in  two  octavo  volumes,  and  although  the  price  was 
ten  dollars,  reached  a sale  exceeding  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  copies  of  the  first  volume,  it  having  been  issued 
before  its  author  went  upon  the  bail-bond  of  Jefferson 
Davis,  an  act  which  caused  the  loss  of  the  sale  of  many 
thousand  volumes,  as  many  of  the  subscribers  having  become 
incensed  at  Mr.  Greeley’s  action,  refused  to  take  the  second 
volume.  The  firm  of  Derby  and  Miller  had  the  agency 
and  management  for  the  sale  of  the  work  in  New  York  and 
adjoining  states,  therefore,  I speak  from  experience  of  the 
great  popularity  of  the  work  when  it  first  appeared. 

Mr.  Greeley  accepted  an  offer  from  the  publishers  to 
write  the  book  without  consulting  any  of  his  friends  ; the 
consequence  was  that  he  agreed  to  prepare  the  work  in  too 


132 


HORACE  GREELEY. 


short  a time,  receiving  but  a very  moderate  royalty  on  the 
sales,  probably  not  one-quarter  of  the  sum  which  he  could 
have  received  from  responsible  publishers. 

I saw  much  of  Mr.  Greeley  in  those  days  and  remember 
very  well  how  greatly  he  was  taxed  by  the  exacting  clamor 
of  the  publishers  for  copy.  The  writing  of  this  book  was  a 
great  strain  on  his  already  overtaxed  brain. 

In  the  summer  of  1864  Mr.  Greeley  was  attacked  with 
severe  illness,  something  akin  to  brain  fever  ; the  slow 
progress  of  the  war  and  great  loss  of  life  in  the  sanguinary 
battles,  had  made  a deep  impression  upon  him  and  tempo- 
rarily laid  him  up  from  active  work. 

While  confined  at  his  residence  at  Chappaqua  by  this 
illness,  I was  invited  by  the  late  Phoebe  Cary  (who,  with 
her  sister  Alice,  were  his  devoted  friends)  to  go  with  her 
to  see  the  sick  editor  at  his  home.  Arriving  there  we  first 
saw  his  wife  in  the  approaches  of  the  house  ; Mrs.  Greeley 
informed  us  that  her  husband  could  not  be  seen ; however, 
through  a little  persuasion  on  the  part  of  Miss  Cary,  she 
relented,  and  we  were  directed  how  and  where  to  find  the 
invalid.  We  found  him  seated  beside  a little  stream  near 
by,  without  coat  or  hat,  with  rod  and  line — fishing.  He 
seemed  pleased  to  see  us  and  invited  us  to  dinner.  After 
spending  a pleasant  day,  he  said  he  felt  well  enough  to  re- 
turn to  the  city  with  us,  which  he  did,  the  same  afternoon, 
the  receipt  of  good  news  from  the  seat  of  war  having  greatly 
cheered  him. 

During  the  year  1868,  an  inducement  of  a peculiar  kind 
was  advertised  in  the  Tribune . In  spite  of  the  protesta- 
tion of  Mr.  Greeley,  the  offer  was  made  of  a portrait  of  the 
chief  editor  of  the  paper,  on  the  following  conditions  : 

“ The  publishers  of  the  New  York  Tribune  having  received  many 
inquiries  from  time  to  time  for  a good  likeness  of  the  editor,  have 
made  an  arrangement  with  Messrs.  Derby  & Miller  to  furnish 
copies  of  Ritchie’s  engraving,  from  a photograph  by  Brady,  which 
will  be  sent  to  such  subscribers  of  the  Tribune  as  wish  it,  on  the 


HORACE  GREELEY. 


133 


conditions  below.  This  is  much  the  best  likeness  of  Mr.  Greeley 
that  has  been  engraved.  The  print  sells  for  one  dollar.  Each 
subscriber  who  sends  us  ten  dollars  for  the  Daily , four  dollars  for 
the  Semi- Weekly,  or  two  dollars  for  the  Weekly  Tribune,  the  paper 
to  be  sent  by  mail,  and  who  requests  the  engraving  at  the  time  of 
subscribing,  will  have  a copy  carefully  mailed,  post-paid,  to  his 
address.  One  will  likewise  be  sent  to  any  person  who  forwards  a 
club  of  ten  or  more  semi-weeklies  at  our  club  rates  and  asks  for 
the  portrait  at  the  time  of  remitting.  We  do  not  propose  this  as 
a premium,  but  to  gratify  the  many  friends  of  the  Tribune , who 
feel  a desire  to  possess  a good  likeness  of  its  founder.” 

It  was  a most  excellent  portrait  of  the  most  famous 
Editor  living  and  greatly  prized  by  the  Tribune  subscribers. 

In  one  of  the  chapters  of  Mr.  Greeley’s  book,  “ Recol- 
lections of  a Busy  Life,”  which  series  of  sketches  he  said 
he  wrote  because  Mr.  Bonner  urged  and  paid  him  to  do  so, 
he  described  his  former  friend,  the  late  Thurlow  Weed,  as 
tall,  robust,  dark-featured,  shrewd,  resolute  and  not  over 
scrupulous.  Mr.  Bonner  informs  me  that  Mr.  Greeley 
originally  wrote  unscrupulous,  and  that  he  returned  it  to 
have  the  expression  omitted  or  modified.  The  latter  at 
first  hesitated  to  make  any  change  whatever  in  his  text,  but 
subsequently  wrote  it  as  now  printed. 

I know,  that  notwithstanding  Mr.  Greeley’s  unkind 
feelings  towards  Mr.  Weed,  in  the  later  years  of  his  life, 
they  were  not  reciprocated  by  the  latter  ; on  the  contrary, 
Mr.  Weed  always  spoke  of  him  in  the  kindest  and  most 
friendly  manner.  But  death  buries  all  political  animosi- 
ties. Mr.  Weed  acted  as  one  of  the  pall-bearers  at  Mr. 
Greely’s  funeral. 

These  “Recollections  of  a Busy  Life”  were  first  pub- 
lished in  the  Ledger,  for  which  Mr.  Greeley  received  a lib- 
eral sum.  They  were  subsequently  published  in  book 
form,  yielding  their  author  an  additional  copyright  on  all 
that  were  sold. 

When  Robert  Bonner  wanted  Mr.  Greeley  to  write  these 
Recollections  for  the  Ledger,  he  was  well  aware  that  the 


134 


HORACE  GREELEY. 


latter  nearly  always  needed  money,  and  made  him  an  offer  of 
a certain  sum.  Greeley  said  he  would  think  about  it.  Bon- 
ner knew  that  if  the  latter  talked  with  his  friends,  they 
would  tell  him  that  it  ought  to  go  in  the  Tribune,  as  it 
would  increase  its  circulation  very  much.  Bonner  saw  this, 
but  Greeley  did  not ; so,  having  invited  the  latter  to  break- 
fast the  next  morning,  Bonner  drew  up  a check  for  the 
whole  sum  he  had  offered  him  and  laid  it  on  Greeley's  plate 
so  that  he  would  see  it  when  he  sat  down.  Greeley  found 
the  check  there,  and  the  temptation  of  receiving  all  of  that 
ready  money  was  too  great  for  him  to  resist,  and  thus  Bon- 
ner carried  his  point,  as  usual. 

Mr.  Beecher  once  told  me  a characteristic  anecdote 
about  Greeley;  he  said,  “ I at  one  time  chanced  to  be  travel- 
ing in  the  same  direction  with  Horace  Greeley.  As  we  were 
passing  through  some  little  town,  he  looked  out  of  the  win- 
dow and  said,  ‘I  lectured  in  this  town  once  and  I had  very 
good  success.'  Said  I,  ‘Mr.  Greeley,  what  do  you  call 
success  in  a lecture  ?'  * Well,'  said  he,  ‘where  more  folks 

stay  in  than  go  out.' " 

I have  excellent  authority  for  the  authenticity  of  the 
following  incident.  Horace  Greeley  and  Thomas  McEl- 
rath,  once  stopped  at  the  hotel  in  Columbia,  a village  on 
the  Delaware  River,  some  distance  below  the  Water  Gap. 

Mr.  Greeley  talked  and  wrote  all  night  and  tradition 
saitli  he  got  one  subscriber.  While  they  were  waiting 
at  Stroudsburg,  after  arriving  at  the  river  bank  they 
signaled  for  a boatman  to  bring  them  over,  and  a man  in 
his  shirt-sleeves  responded.  While  crossing,  Greeley  said, 
“ Ferryman,  you  don't  know  that  you  have  the  honor  of 
carrying  Mr.  McElrath,  of  the  New  York  Tribune,”  and  Mr. 
McElrath  responded,  “and  you  have  also  the  higher  honor  of 
crossing  with  Horace  Greeley."  The  boatman  said,  “ Gen- 
tlemen, perhaps  you  don't  know  that  you  have  the  honor 
of  being  ferried  over  by  Judge  Ribble,"  which  was  a fact. 

Greeley,  as  we  know,  was  at  one  time  a great  admirer 
of  Mr.  Seward,  as  well  as  of  Mr.  Weed,  and  before  the  dis- 


HORACE  GREELEY. 


135 


solution  by  him  of  the  firm  of  Seward,  Weed  & Greeley, 
ho  wrote,  under  date  of  February  8th,  1855,  to  his  friend 
Mr.  George  E.  Baker,  then  a member  of  the  assembly  at 
Albany,  as  follows  : — 

“ Weed  is  a giant.  I went  up  to  Albany  to  see  if  I could  be  of 
any  use,  but  I could  not.  I could  do  more  good  here.  Weed 
loves  those  who  never  seem  to  oppose  his  will,  but  he  is  after  all 
the  greatest  man  we  have  left,  Seward  not  excepted.” 

In  August,  1872,  I visited  Auburn  to  show  Mr.  Seward 
the  first  proof  pages  of  his  Travels  around  the  World,  the 
completion  of  which  he  did  not  live  to  see.  One  evening, 
while  sitting  with  him  looking  out  at  a procession  going  to 
the  Greeley  Ratification  Meeting,  Mr.  Seward  became  very 
thoughtful  and  said  but  little  ; which  was  to  the  effect  that 
never  in  his  life  had  he  put  any  obstacle  in  Mr.  Greeley's 
way  and  certainly  should  not  begin  now.  He  died  the  fol- 
lowing month  and  Mr.  Greeley  two  months  later. 

Hon.  F.  W.  Seward  states  in  his  recent  interesting 
biography  of  his  father,  that — 

“Mr.  Weed  in  the  year  1839,  while  Seward  was  Governor, 
during  his  frequent  visits  at  the  Governor’s  mansion,  brought 
with  him  a slender  light-haired  young  man,  stooping  and  near- 
sighted, rather  unmindful  of  forms  and  social  usages,  yet  sin- 
gularly clear,  original  and  decided  in  his  political  views  and 
theories — this  was  Horace  Greeley.  He  had  been  brought  to 
Albany  by  Mr.  Weed  to  conduct  a new  campaign  paper  called  The 
Jeffersonian,  which  was  published  at  the  State  Capital,  while 
The  New  Yorker  continued  to  be  published  at  New  York,  with  Mr. 
Greeley  as  editor  of  both  papers,  making  his  trips  to  and  from 
the  two  cities  twice  a week. 

Among  Mr.  Greeley’s  eccentricities,  was  one  on  the 
subject  of  agriculture,  which  he  believed,  much  to  the 
amusement  of  his  friends,  he  was  quite  a proficient  in; 
and  his  book,  “ What  I know  about  Farming,”  published 
by  G.  W.  Carleton,  in  1872,  caused  considerable  comment 
among  his  readers. 

Mr.  Greeley,  in  his  “Recollections  of  a Busy  Life” 


136 


HORACE  GREELEY. 


closes  the  chapter  on  the  founding  of  the  Tribune,  as  fol- 
lows : — 

“Fame  is  a vapor;  popularity  an  accident;  riches  take  wings; 
the  only  earthly  certainty  is  oblivion;  no  man  can  foresee  what  a 
day  may  bring  forth,  while  those  who  cheer  to-day  will  curse  to- 
morrow; and  yet  I cherish  the  hope  that  the  journal  I projected 
and  established,  will  live  and  flourish  long  after  I shall  have 
moldered  into  forgotten  dust,  being  guided  by  a larger  wisdom,  a 
more  unerring  sagacity  to  discern  the  right,  though  not  by  a more 
unfaltering  readiness  to  embrace  and  defend  it  at  whatever  per- 
sonal cost;  and  that  the  stone  which  covers  my  ashes  may  bear  to 
future  eyes,  the  still  intelligible  inscription,  ‘Founder  of  the  New 
York  Tribune.  ’ ” 

The  inscription  thus  desired  by  the  eminent  editor  is 
not  only  the  motto  of  the  paper  he  founded,  but  the  tall 
and  massive  building  of  the  Tribune  Association,  erected 
by  his  successor,  is  a noble  monument  to  its  illustrious 
founder. 

On  the  evening  of  the  20th  of  November,  1872,  the  life 
of  Horace  Greeley  ceased,  and  with  his  death  a great  jour- 
nalist passed  away.  His  funeral  was  the  most  imposing 
ever  witnessed  in  New  York,  the  services  being  held  at 
Rev.  Dr.  E.  H.  Chapin's  church,  of  which  he  was  a mem- 
ber; Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  assisted  Dr.  Chapin  in  the 
funeral  addresses.  Among  the  distinguished  mourners 
were  President  Grant,  Vice-President  Wilson,  Chief  Justice 
Chase,  the  Governors  of  several  States,  and  a number  of 
senators  and  members  of  Congress. 

Mary  Clemmer,  in  one  of  her  interesting  letters  to  the 
New  York  Independent,  after  Mr.  Greeley's  death,  pays  the 
following  beautiful  tribute  to  his  memory  : — 

“There  were  years,  and  these  the  ones  in  which  his  toils 
pressed  heaviest,  when,  through  stress  of  circumstences,  Mr. 
Greeley  scarcely  had  a home.  Some  of  his  books  were  written 
amid  discouragements  and  in  discomfort  which  would  have 
appalled  and  paralyzed  any  man  less  a Cato  in  his  mold.  Many 


HORACE  GREELEY. 


137 


homes,  bright,  genial,  full  of  gentle  hearts,  opened  to  him;  but 
they  were  not  his  own. 

“Women  gifted,  good,  and  beautiful  trusted  him,  cared  for  him, 
and  ministered  in  many  ways  to  his  weary  life.  No  man  could 
have  felt  more  exquisitely  than  he,  the  ministries  of  such  souls. 
No  woman  ever  was  his  personal  friend,  trusting  him,  caring  for 
him  who  was  not  helped  by  every  word  and  deed  of  his  com- 
panionship toward  the  truest  and  noblest  womanhood.  No  praise 
higher  than  this  can  woman  offer  to  the  memory  of  man.  His 
friendships  were  catholic,  comprehensive  and  abiding.  They  held 
within  their  steadfast  range  some  of  the  most  illustrious  as  well  as 
some  of  the  most  purely  and  sweetly  domestic  women  of  his  time. 
Amid  these,  while  his  wife  afar  vainly  pursued  the  mirage  of 
health,  he  stood  in  fact  a homeless  and  solitary  man.  But  he 
never  faltered  in  his  work.  He  never  swerved  in  his  allegiance. 
He  loved  one  woman,  was  true  to  her.  She  was  the  wife  of  his 
youth  and  the  mother  of  his  children.  When  her  last  struggle 
came,  as  he  said,  ‘ in  the  darkest  hour’  ; when  for  thirty  sleep- 
less nights  and  days  he  watched  the  last  earthly  light  go  out  in 
the  lustrous  eyes  which  had  enchanted  and  enchained  his  heart  for 
more  than  thirty  years,  he  felt  his  own  life  wane  with  it  ; and 
when  it  had  gone  he  knew  had  gone  also,  both  his  power  and  his 
desire  to  live.” 

The  following  interesting  reminiscences,  addressed  to 
the  Tribune  by  Bayard  Taylor,  long  one  of  the  editors,  and 
at  the  time  of  Mr.  Greeley's  death  residing  abroad,  are 
extracts  from  the  memorial  volume  published  by  the 
Tribune  Association. 

“I  first  saw  Mr.  Greeley  in  June,  1844,  when  I was  a boy  of 
nineteen.  I applied  to  him  for  an  engagement  to  write  letters  to 
the  Tribune  from  Germany.  His  reply  was  terse  enough.  ‘No 
descriptive  letters  !’  he  said,  ‘I  am  sick  of  them.  When  you 
have  been  there  long  enough  to  know  something,  send  to  me,  and 
if  there  is  anything  in  your  letters,  I will  publish  them.’  I waited 
nearly  a year  and  then  sent  seventeen  letters  which  were  published. 
They  were  shallow  enough  I suspect  ; but  what  might  they  not 
have  been  without  warning  ? Toward  the  end  of  1847,  while  I 
was  engaged  in  the  unfortunate  enterprise  of  trying  to  establish  a 
weekly  paper  in  Phoenixville,  Penn.,  I wrote  to  him — foreseeing 


138 


HORACE  GREELEY. 


the  failure  of  my  hopes — asking  his  assistance  in  procuring  literary 
work  in  New  York.  He  advised  me  (as  I suspect  he  had  advised 
thousands  of  young  men)  to  stay  in  the  country.  But  I had  stayed 
in  the  country,  and  a year  too  long  ; so  another  month  found  me 
in  New  York  in  his  office  with  my  story  of  disappointment  and 
my  repeated  request  for  his  favorable  influence.  “I  think  you 
are  mistaken,”  he  said,  “but  I will  bear  you  in  mind,  if  I hear  of 
any  chance.”  Six  weeks  afterward,  to  my  great  surprise  (for  I 
supposed  lie  had  quite  forgotten  me),  he  sent  me  and  offered  me 
a place  on  the  Tribune.  I worked  hard  and  incessantly  during  the 
summer  of  1848,  hearing  never  a word  of  commendation  or  en- 
couragement ; but  one  day  in  October,  he  suddenly  came  to  my 
desk,  laid  his  hand  upon  my  shoulder  and  said,  ‘ You  have  been 
faithful ; but  now  you  need  rest.  Take  a week’s  holiday  and  go 
into  New  England.’  I obeyed,  and  found  on  my  return,  that  he 
had  ordered  my  salary  to  be  increased.  I think  none  of  his 
associates  at  that  time  ever  wrote  a line  which  he  did  not  critic- 
ally read.  His  comments  sometimes  seemed  rough,  but  they  were 
always  wholesome  and  almost  invariably  just.  Once  he  called  me 
to  his  room,  pointed  to  a poem  of  mine  which  had  just  appeared 
in  a literary  magazine,  and  abruptly  asked:  ‘ Why  did  you  pub- 
lish that  gassy  stuff  ?’  My  indignation  was  even  greater  than  my 
astonishment.  I retorted  fiercely:  ‘Mr.  Greeley,  I should  feel 
hurt  by  your  question,  if  I had  any  respect  whatever  for  your 
judgment  in  regard  to  poetry  !’  He  smiled  a sad,  forgiving 
smile  and  said  nothing.  Years  afterward,  I saw  that  he  was 
right;  the  poem  was  only  a piece  of  sounding  rhetoric,  for  which 
‘gassy’  was  perhaps  a coarse,  but  certainly  not  an  inappro- 
priate epithet.” 

The  following  poetical  tribute  from  the  banker- poet, 
E.  0.  Stedman,  who  was  at  one  time  on  the  editorial  staff 
of  the  Tribune  is  a fitting  conclusion  to  my  recollections  of 
Horace  Greeley. 

“ Earth,  let  thy  softest  mantle  rest, 

This  wearied  child  to  thee  returning, 

Whose  youth  was  nurtured  at  thy  breath 

Who  loved  thee  with  much  tender  yearning  ! 


HORACE  GREELEY. 


He  knew  thy  fields  and  woodland  ways, 

And  deemed  thy  humblest  son  his  brother  ; 
Asleep,  beyond  our  blame  or  praise, 

We  yield  him  back,  O,  gentle  Mother  ! 

‘ Of  praise,  of  blame,  he  drank  his  fill  ; 

Who  has  not  read  the  lifelong  story  ? 

And  dear  we  hold  his  fame,  but  still 
The  man  was  dearer  than  his  glory. 

And  now  to  us  are  left  alone, 

The  closet  where  his  shadow  lingers, 

The  vacant  chair — that  was  a throne — 

The  pen,  just  fallen  from  his  fingers. 

‘ Wrath  changed  to  kindness  on  that  pen  ; 

Though  dipped  in  gall  it  flowed  with  honey 
One  flash  from  out  the  cloud,  and  then 
The  skies  with  smile  and  jest  were  sunny. 

Of  hate  he  surely  lacked  the  art, 

Who  made  his  enemy  his  lover  ; 

O,  reverend  head  and  Christian  heart  ! 

Where  now  their  like  the  whole  world  over  ? 

‘ He  saw  the  goodness,  not  the  taint, 

In  many  a poor  do-nothing  creature, 

And  gave  to  sinner  and  to  saint, 

But  kept  his  faith  in  human  nature  ; 
Perchance  he  was  not  worldly-wise, 

Yet  he  who  noted,  standing  nearer, 

The  shrewd,  kind  twinkle  in  his  eyes, 

For  every  weakness  held  him  dearer. 

‘Alas  ! that  unto  him  who  gave 
So  much,  so  little  should  be  given  ! 

Himself  alone,  he  might  not  save 

Of  all  for  whom  his  hands  had  striven. 

Place,  freedom,  fame,  his  work  bestowed  ; 

Men  took,  and  passed,  and  left  him  lonely  ; 
What  marvel,  if  beneath  his  load, 

At  times  he  craved  for  justice  only  ! 


140 


HORACE  GREELEY. 


“ Yet  thanklessness,  the  serpent’s  tooth, 

His  loftly  purpose  could  not  alter  ; 

Toil  had  no  power  to  bend  his  youth, 

Or  make  his  lusty  manhood  falter  ; 

From  envy’s  sling,  from  slander’s  dart, 

That  armored  soul  the  body  shielded, 

Till  one  dark  sorrow  chilled  his  heart, 

And  then  he  bowed  his  head  and  yielded. 

“Now,  now  we  measure  at  its  worth 
The  gracious  presence  gone  forever  ; 

The  wrinkled  East,  that  gave  him  birth, 

Laments  with  every  laboring  river  ; 

Wild  moan  the  free  winds  of  the  West, 

For  him  who  gathered  to  her  prairies 
The  sons  of  men,  and  make  each  crest 
The  haunt  of  happy  household  fairies. 

“ And  anguish  sits  upon  the  mouth 

Of  her  who  came  to  know  him  latest  ; 

His  heart  was  ever  there,  O,  South  ! 

He  was  thy  truest  friend  and  greatest  ! 

He  shunned  thee  in  thy  splendid  sham, 

He  stayed  thee  in  thy  voiceless  sorrow  ; 

The  day  thou  shalt  forget  his  name, 

Fair  South,  can  have  no  sadder  morrow. 

“The  tears  that  fall  from  eyes  unused — 

The  hands  above  his  grave  united — 

The  words  of  men  whose  lips  he  loosed, 

Whose  cross  he  bore,  whose  wrongs  he  righted— 
Could  he  but  know,  and  rest  with  this  ! 

Yet  stay,  through  death’s  low-lying  hollow, 

His  one  last  foe’s  insatiate  hiss 

On  that  benignant  shade  would  follow  ! 

“ Peace  ! while  we  shroud  this  man  of  men 
Let  no  unhallowed  word  be  spoken  ! 

He  will  not  answer  thee  again, 

His  mouth  is  sealed,  his  wand  is  broken. 


THOMAS  McELRATII. 


141 


Some  holier  cause,  some  vaster  trust 
Beyond  the  vail,  he  doth  inherit, 

O,  gently,  Earth,  receive  his  dust, 

And  Heaven  soothe  his  troubled  Spirit  !” 


THOMAS  McELHATH. 

McElrath  and  Bangs — First  American  reader  of  “ Don 
Juan  ” — Studies  Law  with  Judge  Daly — Enters 
Methodist  Book  Concern — Partnership  with  Horace 
Greeley — Great  Success  of  the  Tribune — Prominent 
Seward  Whig — Tribune  Building  Destroyed  by  Fire 
— Escape  of  R.  M.  Strebergh — McElrath  as  an  Author 
— President  of  Nassau  Bank — Official  Positions — 
Anecdote  of  Greeley — Preparing  Reminiscences. 

"V/T ORE  than  fifty  years  ago,  the  firm  of  McElrath  & 
^ Bangs  were  publishers  of  school  and  religious  books 
in  the  city  of  New  York.  It  is  nearly  half  a century  since 
I knew  them  as  a firm,  and  became  a purchaser  of  their 
publications.  I have  heard  Mr.  McElrath  say  that  he 
was  the  first  person  in  the  United  States  who  read  the 
11th,  12th,  and  13th  cantos  of  Lord  Byron’s  “Don  Juan.” 
Carey  & Lea  received  an  advance  copy,  which,  before 
cutting  the  leaves,  was  sent  to  the  then  famous  printing 
office  of  William  Brown,  in  Philadelphia,  where  it  was 
immediately  given  out  to  thirty  or  forty  compositors,  and 
within  thirty-six  hours  an  American  edition  was  on  sale  at 
the  book-stores.  This  was  in  1823,  and  Mr.  McElrath, 
then  a lad  in  the  office,  read  the  proof s. 

Later  on,  young  McElrath  moved  to  New  York,  where  he 
was  employed  in  the  large  printing-offices  of  the  Methodist 
Book  Concern,  chiefly  as  proof-reader.  He  afterwards 
learned  the  bookselling  business,  becoming  head  salesman 
in  the  same  large  establishment. 


142 


THOMAS  McELRATH. 


Ill  the  year  1828  he  entered  into  partnership  with 
Lemuel  Bangs,  as  general  booksellers  and  publishers  of 
religious  and  school  books.  Mr.  Bangs  afterwards  became 
well-known  to  the  bookselling  fraternity  by  his  connection 
with  the  book  trade-sales  of  New  \ >rk. 

After  the  dissolution  of  the  firm,  Mr  McElrath  con- 
tinued the  book  publishing  business  on  his  own  account, 
until  a fire  destroyed  the  building  he  occupied  in  Ann 
Street,  by  which  he  lost  his  entire  stock.  He  then  resolved 
to  abandon  the  book  business  and  devote  himself  to  the 
practice  of  law,  for  which  he  had  already  prepared  him- 
self, both  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  York.  One  of  his  first 
law  partners  was  Charles  P.  Daly,  now  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas. 

Mr.  McElrath  early  became  identified  with  the  Whig 
party,  having  united  his  political  fortunes  with  his  life- 
long friend,  the  late  William  H.  Seward.  He  was  elected 
to  the  Legislature  in  1838,  the  same  year  that  Mr.  Seward 
was  elected  Governor  of  the  State,  and  I believe  he  is  now 
the  only  survivor  of  the  thirteen  members  representing  with 
him  the  city  of  New  York  in  the  Assembly  of  1839. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  by  experience  in  printing,  in 
publishing,  and  in  politics,  Mr.  McElrath  entered  upon 
the  task  of  establishing  the  New  York  Daily  Tribune  on  a 
business  basis  not  lightly  prepared  to  assume  that  duty. 
The  famous  firm  of  Greeley  & McElrath  was  established  in 
1841,  as  publishers  of  the  New  York  Tribune , their  part- 
nership continuing  for  the  period  of  sixteen  years. 

On  assuming  charge  as  publisher,  Mr.  McElrath  made 
public  the  following  card  : 

“The  undersigned,  in  connecting  himself  with  the  conduct  of 
a public  journal,  invokes  a continuance  of  that  courtesy  and  good 
feeling  which  has  been  extended  to  him  by  his  fellow  citizens. 
Having  heretofore  received  evidence  of  kindness  and  regard  from 
the  conductors  of  the  Whig  press  of  this  city,  and  rejoicing  in  the 
friendship  of  most  of  them,  it  will  be  his  aim  in  his  new  vocation 
to  justify  the  kindness  and  strengthen  and  increase  those  friend- 


THOMAS  McELRATH. 


143 


ships.  His  hearty  concurrence  in  the  principles,  political  and 
moral,  on  which  the  Tribune  has  thus  far  been  conducted,  has  been 
a principal  incitement  to  the  connection  here  announced,  and  the 
statement  of  this  fact  will  preclude  the  necessity  of  any  special 
declaration  of  opinions.  With  gratitude  for  past  favors,  and  an 
anxious  desire  to  merit  a continuance  of  regard,  he  remains,  the 
public’s  humble  servant, 

Thomas  McElrath.” 

On  Saturday  morning,  July  31,  the  notice  of  copart- 
nership appeared  editorially  in  the  Tribune , and  the  part- 
nership thus  consummated  lasted  over  sixteen  years.  Mr. 
McElrath  was  an  excellent  business  man  ; prompt,  ener- 
getic, methodical,  and  the  business  affairs  of  the  Tribune 
were  soon  reduced  to  clearness  and  order. 

In  Mr.  Greeley^s  autobiography  he  pays  a warm  tribute 
to  the  business  abilities  of  his  partner.  “ He  was,”  says 
Mr.  Greeley,  “so  safe  and  judicious,  that  the  business 
never  gave  me  any  trouble  and  scarcely  required  of  me  a 
thought  during  that  long  era  of  all  but  uncloiqled  prosper- 
ity.” 

Hudson,  in  his  “ History  of  Journalism,”  in  giving  a 
history  of  the  Hew  York  Tribune , says  : 

“The  Tribune , like  some  of  its  predecessors,  survived  assaults 
and  persecutions;  but  as  we  have  said,  it  lacked  a business  manager 
to  aid  its  editor  in  perfecting  his  plans  and  to  reap  the  advantages 
of  surrounding  circumstances.  Thomas  McElrath  was  the  needed 
man.  Educated  a lawyer,  and  having  been  a book  publisher, 
active  and  intelligent,  he  took  hold  of  the  business  details  of  the 
establishment  with  energy.  It  is  but  justice  to  Mr.  McElrath  to 
say  that  a large  portion  of  the  success  of  the  Tribune  was  due  to 
his  skill.” 

Mr.  Parton,  also,  in  his  interesting  Life  of  Greeley,  says 
of  Mr.  McElrath  : 

“ A strict  disciplinarian,  a close  calculator,  a man  of  method 
and  order,  experienced  in  business,  Mr.  McElrath  possessed  in  an 


144 


THOMAS  McELRATH. 


eminent  degree  the  very  qualities  in  which  the  editor  of  the 
Tribune  was  most  deficient.  Roll  Horace  Greeley  and  Thomas 
McElrath  into  one,  and  the  result  would  be  a very  respectable  ap- 
proximation to  a perfect  man.  The  two,  united  in  partnership, 
have  been  able  to  produce  a very  respectable  approximation  to  a 
perfect  newspaper.  As  Damon  and  Pythias  are  the  types  of  per- 
fect friendship,  so  may  Greeley  and  McElrath  be  a perfect  part- 
nership ; and  one  may  say  with  a sigh  at  the  many  discordant 
unions  the  world  presents,  ‘ Oh  ! that  every  Greeley  could  find  his 
McElrath,  and  blessed  is  the  McElrath  that  finds  his  Greeley  !”  ’ 

Mr.  Greeley  himself,  in  a published  letter,  Said  : 

“ But  I was  not  made  for  a publisher  ; indeed,  no  man  was 
ever  qualified  to  edit  and  publish  a daily  paper,  such  as  it  must  be, 
to  live  in  these  times  ; and  it  was  not  until  Mr.  Thomas  McElrath, 
w7hom  I had  barely  known  as  a member  of  the  publishing  firm 
over  whose  store  I first  set  type  in  this  city,  but  who,  now  a 
lawyer  in  good  standing  and  practice— made  me  a voluntary  and 
wholly  unexpected  proffer  of  partnership  in  my  still  struggling 
but  hopeful  enterprise,  that  it  might  be  considered  fairly  on  its 
feet.  He  offered  to  invest  two  thousand  dollars  as  an  equivalent 
to  whatever  I had  in  the  business,  and  to  devote  his  time  and 
energy  to  its  management,  on  the  basis  of  perfect  equality  in 
ownership  and  in  sharing  the  proceeds.  This  I very  gladly  ac- 
cepted ; and  from  that  hour  my  load  was  palpably  lightened.” 

And  again,  in  1845  he  pays  the  following  tribute  to  Mr. 
McElrath  : 

“In  the  fall  of  1841  a kind  Providence  impelled  Mr. 
Thomas  McElrath,  formerly  a bookseller,  then  a lawyer 
and  Master  in  Chancery,  to  call  on  me  and  suggest  the  idea 
of  partnership.  I gladly  closed  with  him  on  any  terms, 
and  from  that  day  to  this  not  another  hair  has  been  worn 
off  my  head  by  the  aching  puzzle  of  studying  out  the 
means  of  paying  off  to-morrow’s  note.” 

The  Sacramento  Bee  celebrated  its  twenty-fifth  anniver- 
sary on  the  evening  of  February  6,  1882.  In  the  course  of 
his  speech  on  the  occasion,  the  veteran  editor,  James  Mc- 
Clutchy,  said  : 


THOMAS  McELKATH. 


145 


“It  is  the  financial  hand  that  wins  and  smooths  the  road  to 
prosperity.  I said  to  Horace  Greeley,  when  he  was  here  many 
years  ago:  ‘Mr.  Greeley,  you  have  established  a great  journal.’ 
‘No,  sir,’  he  answered,  ‘not  I,  but  my  business  partner,  Mr.  Mc- 
Elrath  has.  To  him  is  due  the  honor.  I merely  write  for  it.’  ” 

On  February  5th,  1845,  the  Tribune  building  was  en- 
tirely destroyed  by  fire.  Mr.  Robert  M.  Strebeigh,  a 
nephew  of  Mr.  McElrath,  was  at  that  time  a clerk  in  the 
Tribune  office,  and  now  well  known  in  business  and  social 
circles  in  this  city.  He  once  gave  me  the  following  interest- 
ing account  of  that  catastrophe  : 

He  said  the  fire  occurred  about  4 o’clock,  just  after  the 
morning  edition  of  the  paper  had  been  worked  off,  so  that 
the  subscribers  were  served  on  that  day,  and  through  the 
enterprise  of  Thomas  McElrath  the  paper  appeared  as  usual 
on  the  following  morning.  As  soon  as  he  knew  of  the  fire 
he  secured  type  and  paper  at  30  Ann  Street,  and  by  good 
management  there  was  no  interruption  of  publication. 
Nothing  was  saved  except  the  books  and  papers  that  were 
locked  in  the  safe. 

The  fire  originated  through  the  carelessness  of  a boy, 
who  had  built  a fire  in  the  stove  of  the  publication  office. 
He  allowed  loose  papers  that  had  been  used  for  kindling  to 
remain  by  the  stove.  They  became  ignited  and  communi- 
cated with  other  inflammable  material  of  the  office.  The 
stove  was  located  at  the  foot  of  a private  stairway  that  led 
up  to  a bedroom  in  the  second  story,  which  was  occupied 
by  William  H.  Graham,  New  York  agent  for  Graham’s 
Magazine , and  himself. 

They  were  aroused  by  the  crackling  of  the  fire  as  it 
entered  their  room.  There  was  no  means  of  escape  but  by 
a leap  from  the  window.  They  both  sprang  from  the  win- 
dow in  their  night  clothes  into  the  snow  that  had  been 
heaped  in  the  yard.  They  walked  through  the  basement 
from  the  backyard  to  the  front  of  the  building,  and  by  the 
time  they  reached  the  sidewalk  the  blaze  was  issuing  from 
every  window  of  the  front  of  the  building. 

7 


146 


THOMAS  McELEATn. 


There  was  a heavy  fall  of  snow  the  day  before,  and 
through  the  snow  about  eighteen  inches  deep,  these  young 
gentlemen  walked,  all  accoutred  as  they  were,  Graham  to 
the  Merchants’  Hotel  in  Courtland  St.,  and  Strebeigh  to  his 
uncle  McElrath’s,  who  then  resided  in  Church  St.,  College 
Green.  The  iron  gate,  about  ten  feet  high,  in  front  of  the 
residence,  was  locked,  and  Strebeigh,  being  in  a hurry, 
instead  of  ringing  the  bell  was  obliged  to  climb  over  the 
gate.  He  afterwards  wondered  how  he  did  it,  and  well  he 
may.  He  certainly  could  not  accomplish  such  a feat 
now. 

From  an  account  of  the  fire,  which  appeared  in  a New 
York  paper  some  time  after  its  occurrence,  written  I was 
informed  by  Mr.  Augustus  Maverick,  author  of  “Raymond 
and  New  York  Journalism,”  the  following  extract  is  given  : 

‘ ‘ The  building  was  now  only  a heap  of  ruins.  At  eight  o’clock, 
looking  on  from  the  brink  of  the  fiery  chasm  whence  smoke  and 
steam  still  ascended,  I saw  Greeley  trudging  through  two  or  three 
feet  of  snow,  his  partner  Thomas  McElrath,  to  whom  Greeley  has 
repeatedly  attributed  his  success  of  the  Tribune , just  at  that  moment 
coming  up,  and  the  two  advanced  to  the  end  of  the  gap  which 
held  all  that  was  left  of  the  Tribune  establishment,  and  I standing 
by  the  side  of  Greeley,  put  to  him  this  question : 

“ ‘ Well,  Mr.  Greeley,  what  are  you  going  to  do  ? Will  the  Tri- 
bune be  published  again  ?’ 

“Greeley  replied,  with  that  curious  corrugation  of  the  brow 
which  always  indicated  any  perturbation  in  his  mind,  and  in  that 
old  falsetto  tone  which  gave  such  ear-piercing  expression  to  any 
one  that  may  afflict  him : ‘ I-do-o-nt-know.’  Just  then  he  turned 

to  McElrath  with  a woebegone  expression,  and  said  : 

“ ‘Well,  Mr.  McElrath,  this  is  a pretty  clean  smash!  What  shall 
we  do  ?’  The  former  replied,  ‘ Get  out  the  paper  to-morrow 
morning  as  usual!’  It  was  done.  The  indomitable  energy  of  Mr. 
McElrath  caused  the  paper  to  appear  at  the  regular  time  the  next 
morning,  and  the  event  proved  the  best  kind  of  advertisement, 
for  it  brought  the  Tribune  literally  a thousand  compliments,  and 
gave  its  manager  a lasting  reputation  for  energy  and  enterprise.” 


THOMAS  McELRATH. 


147 


The  following  is  from  Mr.  Greeley’s  humorous  reflec- 
tions over  the  fire  appeared  in  the  columns  of  the  Tribune 
on  the  morning  after  the  catastrophe  : 

“ We  would  not  indulge  in  unnecessary  sentiment,  but  even 
the  old  desk  at  which  we  sat,  the  ponderous  inkstand,  the  familiar 
faces  of  files  of  correspondence,  the  choice  collection  of  pamph- 
lets, the  unfinished  essay,  the  charts  by  which  we  steered— can 
they  all  have  vanished,  never  more  to  be  seen  ? Truly,  your  fire 
makes  clean  work,  and  is,  of  all  executive  officers,  super  eminent. 
Perhaps  the  last  choice  batch  of  letters  may  be  somewhere  on  the 
file  ; we  are  almost  tempted  to  cry,  ‘Devil!  find  it  up  !’  Poh  ! 
it  is  a mere  cinder  now;  some 

“ ‘Fathoms  deep  my  letter  lies  ; 

Of  its  lines  is  tinder  made.’ 

“No  Arabian  tale  can  cradle  a wilder  fiction,  or  show  better  how 
altogether  illusory  life  is.  Those  solid  walls  of  brick  ; those  five 
decent  stories  ; those  steep  and  difficult  stairs  ; the  swing  doors  ; 
the  sanctum,  scene  of  many  a deep  political  drama,  of  many  a 
pathetic  tale,  utterly  whiffed  out,  as  one  summarily  snuffs  out  a 
spermaceti  on  retiring  for  the  night.” 

Mr.  McElrafch  was  elected  president  of  the  Nassau  Bank 
at  its  organization  in  1853 — the  year  in  which  I established 
myself  in  New  York.  This  bank  was  largely  represented 
by  the  book  and  paper  trade,  counting  among  that  frater- 
nity, as  directors,  the  President,  the  Vice-President  Augus- 
tine Smith,  of  the  large  paper  warehouse  of  John  Campbell 
& Co.,  later  Campbell,  Hall  & Co.,  and  now  Augustine 
Smith  & Co.* 

Among  other  directors  were  Lemuel  Bangs,  Mr.  McEl- 
rath’s  former  partner,  J.  S.  Redfield,  a well  known  pub- 
lisher of  some  of  the  most  popular  books  of  the  day,  and 

* Mr.  Smith  is  still,  thirty  years  later,  holding  the  same  posi- 
tion, and  it  is  more  than  probable  that  no  one  in  the  book  or 
paper  business  has  had  greater  experience  or  more  knowledge  of 
the  business  resources  of  all  merchants  engaged  in  those  trades. 


148 


THOMAS  MoELRATH. 


W.  E.  Dean,  an  extensive  printer  and  publisher  of  books 
for  more  than  half  a century,  who  died  in  the  year  1879  at 
the  advanced  age  of  91  years.  He  was  one  of  the  most 
noted  veterans  of  the  trade. 

Mr.  McElrath  has  filled  many  positions  of  responsibility 
and  honor.  He  has  been  a member  of  the  Common  Coun- 
cil of  New  York,  a member  of  the  Board  of  Education, 
United  States  General  Appraiser  of  the  District  of  New 
York,  appointed  by  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  was  also  one 
of  the  commissioners  of  the  Paris  Exposition  in  1867,  for 
which  I became  United  States  agent  by  appointment  of 
William  H.  Seward,  then  Secretary  of  State.  He  was  also 
a United  States  commissioner  to  the  Vienna  Exposition  of 
1873,  where  he  greatly  distinguished  himself  by  his  valua- 
ble assistance  to  the  United  States  exhibitors.  In  the 
year  1834  he  was  elected  a trustee  of  the  Public  School 
Society  of  New  York,  his  first  colleagues  being  the 
Hon.  William  Beach  Lawrence,  editor  of  Wheaton’s  Inter- 
national Law,  and  Ex-Governor  Hamilton  Fish  ; he  was 
appointed  by  Governor  Fish  State  Director  of  the  old 
Bank  of  America ; was  elected  Corresponding  Secretary 
of  the  American  Institute  ; was  appointed  by  the  Presi- 
dent and  confirmed  by  the  Senate,  Chief  United  States 
Appraiser  for  the  Port  of  New  York,  holding  that  office 
under  the  administrations  of  Presidents  Johnson  and 
Grant,  and  organized  the  Appraisers’  Department  substan- 
tially as  it  exists  at  the  present  time  ; by  President  Grant 
he  was  appointed  to  act  with  the  Hon.  John  Jay  as  special 
commissioner  to  adjust  and  superintend  the  American 
Department  of  the  famous  Vienna  Exposition  ; and  in  1876 
was  the  Secretary  and  Executive  officer  of  the  New  York 
State  Commission  at  the  Centennial  Exhibition  in  Phila- 
delphia. 

Mr.  McElrath  is  also  an  author — his  Dictionary  of 
Commerce,  a large  octavo  volume,  having  been  published 
in  1871.  It  was  well  received  by  the  commercial  commun- 
ity, and  although  an  expensive  volume,  a second  edition 


THOMAS  McELRATH. 


149 


was  quickly  called  for.  It  is  regarded  as  authority  on 
commercial  questions  in  all  the  courts. 

Mr.  George  Ripley  in  his  notice  of  this  work  in  The 
Tribune , says : 

“No  single  volume  that  we  are  acquainted  with  comprises  with- 
in the  same  compass  so  great  a variety  of  facts  in  the  range  of  its 
specialty,  or  so  amply  rewards  the  inquirer  for  the  trouble  of  con- 
sulting its  pages.  The  prominent  features  of  the  work  are  orig- 
inality, clearness  and  brevity.  . . . The  definitions,  in  general, 
are  remarkable  for  their  precision  and  neatness.” 

It  is  intimated  and  may  be  expected  that  Mr.  McElrath 
will  yet  put  on  record  in  detail  as  known  only  to  himself 
the  history  of  the  great  journal  to  whose  foundation  and 
early  fortunes  he  devoted  his  prime.  This  will  be  but 
doing  late  justice  to  himself,  and  I do  not  doubt  that  the 
public  will  be  much  interested  in  a narrative  unfolding  the 
primal  origin  and  development  of  a newspaper  foremost  in 
its  class  and  of  such  world-wide  renown  as  the  New  York 
Tribune. 

Cornelius  Matthews,  in  an  article  published  in  the 
Manhattan  Magazine , incidentally  introduces  the  name  of 
Mr.  McElrath,  and  says  : 

“ Ever  honored,  the  ex  president  of  the  Nassau  Bank  still  lives 
among  us  to  celebrate  the  golden  wedding  and  to  look  upon  a 
career  of  honor,  as  bookseller,  lawyer,  politician,  financier  and 
journalist  without  a stain.” 

Mr.  McElrath  is  at  present  connected  with  the  National 
Park  Bank  of  this  city.  His  long  career  as  a business  man 
is  one  of  unblemished  record.  I have  known  him  intim- 
ately in  a business  and  social  way  for  nearly  half  a century, 
and  count  it  an  honor  to  be  numbered  among  the  many 
friends  who  respect  and  esteem  him. 


VI. 

WILLIAM  CULLEN  BRYANT. 

The  foremost  American  citizen — Grand  reception  at  the 
State  Capitol — Visits  Governor  Tilden — Habits  of 
daily  life — City  and  country — Never  knew  a sick  day 
— Ills  A utobiography — History  of  the  United  States — 
Library  of  Poetry  and  Song — Picturesque  America — 
President  of  Century  Club — Grand  testimonial  by  its 
members — Opinion  of  Tilden  and  Hayes — Probably 
voted  for  Tilden — Thanatopsis — “ A Pagan  Poem  ”• — 
The  Waterfowl — Relations  with  Weed  and  Greeley — 
Statue  of  Mazzini — Delivers  his  last  Oration — Fatal 
Accident  to  Mr . Bryant — Ills  Death — Impressive 
Funeral  Services — Feeling  Address  by  his  Pastor , 
Rev.  Dr.  Bellov:s — Commemorative  Services. 

\ MONG  my  treasured  memories  are  the  years  of  my  ac- 
quaintance  with  William  Cullen  Bryant,  whose 
friendship  I greatly  valued.  He  was,  in  my  opinion,  not 
only  one  of  the  foremost  Americans,  but,  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  at  the  very  front.  No  other  private  citizen  has  ever 
before  received  the  honors  shown  him  at  the  State  Capitol 
in  1874,  while  a guest  of  his  life-long  friend,  Governor 
Tilden.  Mr.  Bryant  accepted  an  invitation  to  visit  the 
Legislature,  then  in  session.  As  he  entered  the  Senate 
Chamber,  the  Senators  rose  in  a body  to  receive  him,  Sen- 
ator Robertson,  now  Collector  of  the  Port  of  New  York 
speaking  as  follows  : 

“ Mr.  President — I have  the  honor  to  present  to  you  the  most 
distinguished  citizen  of  our  State — I might  say  of  our  country — 
William  Cullen  Bryant. 

L150] 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


151 


Lieutenant-Governor  Dorsheimer,  who  presided,  then 
invited  Mr.  Biyant  to  a seat  on  his  right,  and  when  all  were 
again  seated,  said: 

“ Senators  ! 

“You  have  sought  for  this  opportunity  to  pay  a signal  tribute 
of  respect  to  one  of  your  fellow-citizens.  Honors  like  this  have 
hitherto  been  reserved  for  those  who  have  risen  to  eminence  in  the 
public  service  ; nor  do  I recall  an  instance  in  the  history  of  any 
State  in  which  our  language  is  spoken,  where  they  have  been  con- 
ferred upon  a man  of  letters.  But  henceforth  it  will  be  known 
that  New  York,  recognizing  that  States  are  governed  not  by  stat- 
utes alone  and  still  less  by  the  sword,  gives  her  highest  honors  to 
the  poet  as  well  as  the  law-giver  and  the  soldier.  I need  not  re- 
call to  you  the  career  of  your  guest.  Every  American  knows  the 
incidents  of  that  long  and  honorable  life.  Still  less  need  I im- 
press upon  you  the  merits  of  his  writings.  You  remember  the 
glowing  words  with  which  in  his  youth  he  taught  the  love  of  na- 
ture and  the  Christian’s  faith.  You  have  all  seen  him  seated 
among  the  lengthening  shadows  of  evening,  and  heard  him  repeat 
in  English  as  pure  as  the  English  of  Addison  and  Goldsmith, 
Homer’s  undying  song.  I know  I utter  your  heartfelt  wishes 
when  I express  the  hope  the  blessings  which  have  been  so  abund- 
antly given  to  him  may  be  continued,  and  that  his  life  may  still 
be  spared  to  the  country  whose  institutions  he  has  defended, 
whose  liberties  he  has  widened  and  whose  glories  he  has  increased. 
Senators,  I present  to  you  William  Cullen  Bryant.” 

A portion  of  Mr.  Bryant’s  eloquent  response  was  as 
follows  : 

“Mr.  Dorsheimer,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Senate: — You  will 
pardon  me,  if,  on  rising,  Isay  a few  words  in  acknowledgment  of 
the  honor  conferred  upon  me,  I find  myself  somewhat  embarrassed 
on  account  of  the  novelty  of  the  occasion.  I see  before  me  the 
representatives  of  the  different  parts  of  our  great,  powerful  and 
populous  State.  I see  men  who  come  from  our  rich  and  beautiful 
valleys,  from  the  grand  and  picturesque  mountain  regions  of  the 
north  of  the  State,  from  the  banks  of  our  glorious  rivers,  from 
the  borders  of  our  immense  lakes,  from  populous  towns  and 


152 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


pleasant  villages  ; towns  that  are  seats  of  trade  and  industry; 
cities  noisy  with  the  bustle  of  business  and  commerce,  or  resounding 
with  the  clash  of  looms,  or  the  blows  of  ponderous  hammers  in 
our  manufacturing  establishments.  You  come,  gentlemen,  as 
representatives  of  the  arts,  of  the  wealth  and  industry  of  this 
great  State.  On  my  part  I have  nothing  to  offset  against  this 
great  array  except  what  you  see  before  you,  and  that  is  an  object 
certainly  disproportionately  small  compared  with  this  imposing 
ceremony.  I have  nothing  to  say,  therefore,  except  to  return  my 
thanks  for  the  great  honor  you  have  done  me,  and  to  add  my 
wishes  for  your  future  career.” 

On  entering  the  Assembly  Chamber,  the  Speaker  ad- 
dressed Mr.  Bryant  as  one,  “ who  as  poet,  journalist,  sage, 
statesman  and  man,  had  written  his  name  in  ineffaceable 
letters  on  the  annals  of  his  country  and  in  the  hearts  of 
his  countrymen,"  to  which  the  latter  feelingly  responded. 

One  day,  in  conversation  with  the  venerable  and  highly- 
honored  poet,  concerning  the  public  reception  tendered 
him  by  the  representatives  of  the  Empire  State,  he 
expressed  his  gratification  in  his  usual  quiet  manner  of 
speech,  to  which  I ventured  to  reply,  that  his  friends  were 
equally  pleased,  as  the  honors  shown  him  were  reciprocal. 

In  the  year  1877,  having  read  a paragraph  in  one  of  the 
daily  papers  referring  to  Mr.  Bryant's  health,  remarkable 
for  one  so  advanced  in  life — he  being  at  that  time  nearly 
eighty  years  old,  and  none  of  his  friends  having  ever  known 
of  his  being  sick  for  a single  day — I determined  to,  and 
did,  write  him  in  relation  to  the  habits  of  his  daily  life, 
the  following  letter,  although  not  aware  at  the  time  of  his 
having  written  to  any  one  else  on  the  same  subject : — 

“ June  8th,  1877. 

“My  Dear  Mr.  Bryant, — 

“ The  enclosed  cutting,  which  is  goingthe  rounds  of  the  Press, 
brings  up  the  question  so  often  from  my  older  and  younger  boys, 
children  and  grandchildren,  who  have  been  taught  to  love  and 
revere  your  name,  why  it  is  that  one  of  your  advanced  years  is  so 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


153 


greatly  favored  with  health  and  long  life,  when  that  life  has 
been  one  of  toil  and  study.  My  reply  to  them  in  brief,  is  that 
Mr.  Bryant  has  taken  care  of  his  bodily  health  by  regular  and  tem- 
perate habits.  Would  it  be  asking  too  much,  my  dear  friend,  for 
a brief  letter  from  you,  in  reply  to  the  suggestions  which  are  thus 
made  ? Such  a letter  would  be  invaluable  to  present  and  future 
youth  and  young  men. 

“ Yours  faithfully, 

J.  C.  Derby.” 

To  the  letter  the  following  replies  were  received  : — 

“Roslyn,  L.  I.,  N.  Y.,  July  11th,  1877. 

“ Dear  Mr.  Derby, — 

“I  wrote  some  time  since  the  kind  of  letter  which  you  suggest, 
concerning  my  habits  of  life.  It  was  addressed  to  Mr.  Joseph 
Richards,  and  published  at  the  time  in  the  Journal  of  Health.  I 
would  have  answered  your  note  earlier  and  sent  you  a copy  of  my 
letter,  if  I could  have  laid  my  hands  on  it,  but  I have  not  yet 
found  it.  I do  not  care  to  write  another,  lest  it  should  seem  like 
thrusting  myself  before  the  public.  I shall  look  further  for  the 
letter.  Yours  truly, 

W.  C.  Bryant.” 

“ Roslyn,  L.  I.,  N.  Y.,  July  11th,  1877. 

“ Dear  Mr.  Derby, — 

“ I can  find  but  one  copy  of  my  letter  to  Mr.  Richards,  and 
that  I wish  to  keep,  though  I have  a suspicion  that  there  are 
others  among  my  papers  somewhere.  I have  copied  the  letter  for 
you,  and  send  it  with  this  that  you  may  do  what  seems  to  you 
good,  with  the  copy.  Yours  truly, 

W.  C.  Bryant.” 

The  following  is  the  letter  referred  to  : 

“New  York, %Marcli  30,  1871. 

“Dear  Sir: — I promised  some  time  since  to  give  you  some 
account  of  my  habits  of  life,  so  far,  at  least,  as  regards  diet,  exer- 
cise and  occupation.  I am  not  sure  that  it  will  be  of  any  use  to 
7* 


154 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


you,  although  the  system,  which  I have  for  many  years  observed, 
seems  to  answer  my  purpose  very  well.  I have  reached  a pretty 
advanced  period  of  life  without  the  usual  infirmities  of  old  age, 
and  with  my  strength,  activity  and  bodily  faculties  generally  in 
pretty  good  preservation.  How  far  this  may  be  the  effect  of  my 
way  of  life,  adopted  long  ago  and  steadily  adhered  to,  is  perhaps 
uncertain.  I rise  early  : at  this  time  of  the  year,  about  half-past- 
five;  in  summer,  half  or  even  an  hour  earlier.  Immediately,  with 
very  little  encumbrance  of  clothing,  I begin  a series  of  exercise, 
for  the  most  part  designed  to  expand  the  chest  and  at  the  same 
time  call  into  action  all  the  muscles  and  articulations  of  the  body. 
These  are  performed  with  dumb-bells — the  very  lightest — covered 
with  flannel,  with  a pole,  a horizontal  bar  and  a light  chair  swung 
round  my  head.  After  a full  hour,  and  sometimes  more,  passed 
in  this  manner,  I bathe  from  head  to  foot.  When  at  my  place  in 
the  country,  I sometimes  shorten  my  exercise  in  the  chamber,  and 
going  out,  occupy  myself  for  half  an  hour  or  more  in  some  work 
which  requires  brisk  motion.  After  my  bath,  if  breakfast  be  not 
ready,  I sit  down  to  my  studies  till  I am  called.  My  breakfast  is 
a simple  one — hominy  and  milk,  or,  in  place  of  hominy,  brown 
bread  or  oatmeal  or  wheaten  grits,  and,  in  season,  baked  sweet 
apples  ; but  animal  food  I never  take  at  breakfast.  Tea  and  cof- 
fee I never  touch  at  any  time.  Sometimes  I take  a cup  of  choco- 
late, which  has  no  narcotic  effect  and  agrees  with  me  very  well. 
At  breakfast  I often  take  fruit,  either  in  its  natural  state  or  freshly 
stewed.  After  breakfast  I occupy  myself  for  a time  with  my  stu- 
dies, and  then,  when  in  town,  I walk  down  to  the  office  of  the 
Evening  Post , nearly  three  miles  distant,  and  after  about  three 
hours,  return,  always  walking,  whatever  be  the  state  of  the 
weather.  In  the  country  I am  engaged  in  literary  tasks  until  a 
feeling  of  weariness  drives  me  out  in  the  open  air,  and  I go  upon 
my  farm  or  into  the  garden  and  prune  the  trees  or  perform  some 
other  work  about  them  which  they  need,  and  then  go  back  to  my 
books.  I do  not  often  drive  out,  preferring  to  walk.  In  the 
country  I dine  early,  and  it  is  only  at  that  meal  that  I take  either 
meat  or  fish,  and  of  these  but  a moderate  quantity,  making  my 
dinner  mostly  of  vegetables.  At  the  meal  which  is  called  tea,  I 
only  take  a little  bread  and  butter,  with  fruit,  if  it  be  on  the  table. 
In  town,  where  I dine  later,  I take  but  two  meals  a day.  Fruit 
makes  a considerable  part  of  my  diet,  and  I cat  it  at  almost  any 
hour  of  the  day  without  inconvenience.  My  drink  is  water  ; yet 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


155 


I sometimes,  though  rarely,  take  a glass  of  wine.  I never  meddle 
with  tobacco,  except  to  quarrel  with  its  use.  That  I may  rise 
early,  I go  to  bed  early  ; in  town  as  early  as  ten  ; in  the  country 
somewhat  earlier.  For  many  years  I have  avoided  in  the  evening 
every  kind  of  literary  occupation  which  tasks  the  faculties,  such 
as  composition,  even  to  the  writing  of  letters,  for  the  reason  that 
it  excites  the  nervous  system  and  prevents  sound  sleep.  My 
brother  told  me  not  long  since  that  he  had  seen  in  a Chicago  news- 
paper a paragraph  in  which  it  was  said  that  I was  in  the  habit  of 
taking  quinine  as  a stimulant,  that  I have  depended  upon  the  ex- 
citement which  it  caused  in  writing  my  verses,  and  that  in  conse- 
quence of  using  it  in  that  way  I had  become  as  deaf  as  a post.  As 
to  my  deafness,  you  know  that  to  be  false,  and  the  remainder  of  the 
story  is  equally  so.  I abominate  all  drugs  and  narcotics  and  have 
always  carefully  avoided  everything  which  spurs  nature  to  exer- 
tions that  it  would  not  otherwise  make.  Even  with  my  food  I do 
not  take  the  usual  condiments,  such  as  pepper  and  the  like. 

“ I am,  sir,  truly  yours, 

“ W.  C.  Bryant.” 

Hon.  John  Bigelow,  at  one  time  associated  with  Mr. 
Bryant  as  one  of  the  editors  of  the  New  York  Evening 
Post,  meeting  him  not  long  before  his  death  after  a pro- 
longed separation,  questioned  him  particularly  concerning 
his  health.  The  latter  replied  : “ It  is  so  perfect  I hardly 
dare  to  speak  of  it,  and  I am  not  conscious  from  one  week 
to  another  of  any  physical  sensation  I would  have  different." 

Although  Mr.  Bryant  was  a great  reader  and  especially 
of  the  trying  Greek  language,  he  always  read  with  the 
naked  eye,  never  during  his  long  life  having  used  eye- 
glasses of  any  kind  whatever. 

The  power  of  endurance  and  vitality  exhibited  by  so 
aged  a man,  seem  not  only  remarkable,  but  truly  wonder- 
ful, when  we  take  into  consideration  his  close  application 
to  literary  pursuits  of  a nature  which  would  affect  the  con- 
stitution of  a robust  person  of  even  younger  years. 

It  was  the  invariable  custom  of  Mr.  Bryant  to  walk  to 
and  from  his  house  in  Sixteenth  Street  to  his  office  down 
town,  a distance  of  some  six  miles.  Everyday,  no  matter 


156 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


what  the  weather  was,  through  a blinding  snow-storm,  a 
gale  of  wind,  the  pouring  rain,  or  under  a hot  summer  sun 
he  might  be  seen  cheerfully  plodding  along  in  the  direc- 
tion of  his  office  or  his  home.  One  windy,  disagreeable 
day  in  March,  on  one  of  these  journeys,  he  stopped  in  to 
see  me,  and  as  he  entered  the  office  door,  the  wind  playing 
havoc  with  his  white  beard,  he  quoted  these  lines  of  Gray : 

“ Loose  his  beard  and  hoary  hair, 

Streamed  like  a meteor  in  the  troubled  air.” 

I suggested  that  Halleck’s  “ Winds  of  March”  were  very 
appropriate  for  the  occasion.  He  at  once  quoted  the  open- 
ing lines  of  the  verses  as  follows  : — 

“ The  winds  of  March  are  humming 

Their  parting  song,  their  parting  song, 

And  summer  skies  are  coming, 

And  days  grow  long,  and  days  grow  long.” 

I said  to  him  that  the  Home  Journal  in  the  days  of 
Morris  and  Willis  quoted  the  poem  with  every  advent  of 
March.  He  replied  it  would  be  a good  thing  for  the  Post 
to  do,  and  he  would  attend  to  it. 

During  one  of  my  conversations  with  Mr.  Bryant,  I 
tried  to  impress  upon  him  the  importance  of  a record  of 
his  eventful  life,  which  could  not  fail  to  be  of  great  inter- 
est, not  alone  to  all  of  his  friends,  but  to  the  public  gener- 
ally ; in  other  words,  it  would  be  a most  desirable  thing  to 
do  if  he  would  prepare  an  autobiography,  even  though  it 
be  published  posthumously.  A few  days  subsequently  the 
following  letter  came  to  me  : — 

“ Cummington,  Mass.,  August  7th,  1874. 

“ My  Dear  Mr.  Derby  : 

“I  have  thought  of  what  you  suggested  to  me.  I find  that  in 
what  I shall  have  to  tell  I do  not  remember  what  relates  to  others 
with  whom  I have  been  thrown  into  contact,  so  minutely  and 
accurately  as  I could  wish.  I shall  be  almost  confined  to  my  own 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


157 


adventures  and  affairs,  and  of  these  a good  deal  that  is  peculiar 
and  characteristic  is  rubbed  off  by  the  lapse  of  time.  I see  that 
the  writing  of  my  biography  will  make  a mere  egotist  of  me,  and 
I cannot  consent  to  appear  in  that  character  in  my  lifetime.  If  I 
write  anything  of  the  kind  it  must  appear  after  I have  dis- 
appeared, provided  that  anybody  shall  then  think  worth  while  to 
publish  it.  I am,  Sir,  truly,  yours, 

W.  C.  Bryant.” 

In  the  years  1874-5  Mr.  Bryant  commenced  to  write  an 
autobiography,  but  after  completing  a few  pages  of  his 
early  life,  he  ceased,  and  it  was  never  continued.* 

Bryant’s  History  of  the  United  States,  although  pur- 
porting to  have  been  written  by  him,  was  in  reality  the 
work  of  another  excellent  writer,  in  whose  ability  Mr. 
Bryant  reposed  the  utmost  confidence.  The  latter  agreed 
in  his  contract  to  write  a general  introduction,  and  to  read 
the  proof  of  all  the  pages,  which  he  very  carefully  attended 
to  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  at  which  time  I believe  but 
two  of  the  four  volumes  had  been  published.  He  wrote  to 
his  friend,  Miss  Dewey  : 

“ I suppose  you  see  that  I am  to  be  responsible  for  a popular 
History  of  the  United  States,  written  by  Mr.  Sidney  Howard  Gay. 
It  is  to  be  illustrated  and  to  fill  three  or  four  octavo  volumes.” 


Another  volume,  known  as  Bryant’s  Library  of  Poetry 
and  Song,  was  a collection  made  from  favorite  poets,  but 
the  selection  was  not  made  by  him.  He  did,  however, 
write  an  introduction  for  the  work,  for  which  he  was  paid 
but  a moderate  price.  The  book  has  had  a very  large  sale. 
A small  royalty  on  all  copies  sold — and  it  was  Mr.  Bryant’s 
name  which  gave  it  its  popularity — would  have  yielde  l him 
a handsome  sum  in  copyright. 

The  name  of  Mr.  Bryant  was  frequently  sought  for  by 
authors  and  publishers  to  introduce  literary  undertakings  ; 


* Parke  Godwin’s  “Life  of  Bryant,”  vol.  I.,  pp.  1-37. 


158 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


and  he  was  ever  ready  to  give  its  influence  to  aid  authors, 
especially  young  writers  of  merit  in  both  prose  and  poetry. 

The  most  important  publication  for  which  Mr.  Bryant 
unhesitatingly  stood  sponsor,  was  the  superbly  illustrated 
Picturesque  America,  published  by  D.  Appleton  & Co.  This 
elegant  work,  which  cost  to  produce  over  $100,000,  was 
projected  by  the  late  George  S.  Appleton  and  Oliver  B. 
Bunce,  both  gentlemen  of  fine  artistic  taste.  The  latter, 
however,  did  most  of  the  literary  work,  for  which  Mr. 
Bryant  gives  due  credit  in  the  introductory  pages.  The 
only  literary  work  done  on  this  publication  by  the  latter 
was  the  writing  of  the  introduction  and  the  reading  of  the 
proof-sheets,  according  to  agreement  with  the  publishers. 

Among  the  names  of  the  founders  of  the  Century  Club 
organized  in  1846,  will  be  found  that  of  William  Cullen 
Bryant,  who,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  was  its  President. 
On  the  occasion  of  his  seventieth  birthday,  in  1$64,  his 
fellow-members  resolved  to'give  him  a testimonial  to  which 
the  principal  literary  and  artistic  circles  were  invited.  In 
response  to  this  invitation,  a large  gathering  of  several 
hundred  ladies  and  gentleman  assembled  to  offer  congratu- 
lations to  the  “ Patriarch  Among  Poets.” 

At  the  gathering  Hon.  George  Bancroft,  then  President 
of  the  Century,  happily  stated  in  addressing  the  assembly, 
that  “the  object  of  the  meeting  was  primarily  the  career  of 
their  guest  as  a poet  that  we  celebrate;  while  the  mountains 
and  the  ocean  side  ring  with  the  tramp  of  cavalry,  and  the 
din  of  cannon,  we  take  a respite  in  the  serene  regions  of 
ideal  pursuits/’  He  also  spoke  of  Mr.  Bryant’s  love  of  nature, 
of  his  personal  life,  which  had  been  one  continuous  record 
of  patriotism  and  integrity.  Among  the  poetical  tributes 
received  were  those  from  Bayard  Taylor,  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes,  George  II.  Boker,  Richard  II.  Stoddard,  Julia  Ward 
Howe,  John  Greenleaf  Whittier.  A characteristic  address 
was  delivered  by  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson.  Letters  of  regret 
were  received  from  Richard  II.  Dana.  Edward  Everett, 
Henry  W.  Longfellow,  John  Pierpont,  Gulian  C.  Verplanck 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


159 


(First  President  Century  Club),  Fitz  Greene  Halleck, 
Charles  Sprague  and  James  Russell  Lowell,  whose  spirited 
poem  was  read  on  the  occasion. 

In  the  year  1876  the  candidates  for  the  Presidency  of 
the  United  States  were  Samuel  J.  TiJden  and  Rutherford 
B.  Hayes.  Until  the  formation  of  the  Republican  party 
Mr.  Bryant  and  Mr.  Tilden  acted  together  in  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  and  notwithstanding  their  subsequent  sepa- 
ration in  politics  they  continued  their  intimate  personal 
relations.  The  New  York  Evening  Post  was,  at  that  time, 
considered  the  Republican  organ,  being  extensively  read 
by  that  class  of  voters  who  usually  supported  the  nominees 
of  that  jjarty.  As  late  in  the  Presidental  Campaign  as 
August  of  that  year  The  Post  had  given  to  its  readers  no 
indications  of  its  preference  for  either  candidate.  This 
was  a matter  of  comment  among  many  of  Mr.  Bryant’s 
friends,  and  as  he  was  then  absent  at  his  residence  at  Cum- 
mington,  Massachusetts,  I ventured  to  write  him  on  the 
subject,  intimating  that  the  readers  of  The  Evening  Post, 
who  were  generally  guided  in  their  political  actions  by  its 
teachings,  had  as  yet  failed  to  see  that  it  had  taken  any 
stand  on  such  an  important  question  as  the  Presidency,  and 
suggesting  that  a letter  from  him  on  the  subject  would  be 
most  timely. 

Mr.  Bryant’s  reply  was  as  follows  : — 

“Cummington,  Mass.,  Aug.  28th,  1876. 
“To  J.  C.  Derby,  Esq. 

“ Dear  Sir  : 

“I  do  not  wonder  that  many  thoughtful  persons  are  undecided 
as  to  which  candidate  they  shall  support  in  the  coming  election 
of  President.  Both  parties  profess  to  aim  at  the  same  ends. 
Which  has  the  best  candidate,  and  which  can  be  most  depended 
upon  to  adopt  and  enforce  the  necessary  measures  ? are  the  ques- 
tions which  people  are  asking.  If  you  look  only  to  the  candidate, 
Mr.  Tilden  is  the  best — the  most  of  a statesman,  the  soundest  and 
most  enlarged  in  opinions,  and,  I think,  of  the  finest  character. 
If  you  look  at  the  parties  by  which  the  candidates  are  brought 


160 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


forward,  the  Republican  party  is  most  to  be  relied  on,  although 
both  parties,  judged  by  the  proceedings  of  their  representatives 
in  Congress,  are  greatly  degenerate,  and  whichever  of  them  obtains 
the  ascendency,  those  who  look  for  a complete,  radical,  thorough 
reform,  will  be  disappointed.  Some  changes  will  doubtless  be 
made  for  the  better,  but  those  who  expect  all  abuses  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  government  to  be  done  away,  will  find  their  mis- 
take. 

“As  to  the  hard-money  question,  it  seems  tome  that  it  is  safest 
with  the  republicans.  The  democratic  party  of  the  west  are  deep- 
ly infected  with  the  inflation  heresy.  It  is  now  smothered  tem- 
porarily, but  as  soon  as  the  election  is  over  it  will  break  out  again 
with  violence.  The  republican  party  is  most  free  from  its 
influence. 

“As  to  the  Civil  Service  reform,  which  both  parties  profess  to 
desire,  Mr.  Tilden  has  not  pledged  himself  to  abstain  from  the 
vicious  practice  of  turning  out  indiscriminately  all  whom  he  shall 
find  in  office,  in  case  he  is  elected.  He  only  promises  to  look 
carefully  into  their  characters  and  qualifications. 

“I  infer  that  all  whom  he  finds  in  office  must  go  out.  Who 
will  answer  for  him  that  all  whom  he  appoints  will.be  worthy  of 
their  places  ? Thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  will  flock  to 
Washington  for  these  places,  all  of  them  good  democrats,  and  it 
will  be  absolutely  astonishing  if  a large  number  of  those  who  are 
appointed  do  not  turn  out  to  be  rogues.  Hayes,  who  only  prom- 
ised to  send  adrift,  the  unworthy,  will  have  an  easier  task  and 
leisure  to  exercise  a just  discrimination. 

“As  to  the  revenue  laws,  which  are,  without  doubt,  one  cause 
of  the  hard  times,  neither  Mr.  Tilden  or  Mr.  Hayes  have  spoken 
of  any  reform  to  be  made.  Perhaps  the  chance  of  an  enlightened 
revision  of  these  laws  is  best  in  case  the  democrats  obtain  the 
ascendancy,  but  how  slight  the  prospect  of  such  a revision  is,  I 
leave  to  be  inferred  from  the  late  proceedings  of  the  democratic 
House  of  Representatives. 

“ You  see,  therefore,  that  when  we  come  to  compare  the  prospect 
of  reform  under  one  of  the  two  parties  with  that  under  the  other,  a 
man  who  is  slow  in  forming  conclusions  might  be  forgiven  for 
hesitating.  Yet  the  greater  number  of  those  dissatisfied  republi- 
cans who  came  to  the  Fifth  Avenue  Conference,  including  most  of 
the  wisest  heads  among  them,  have  acquiesced  in  the  nomination 
of  Hayes.  The  Cincinnati  Convention  did  not  give  them  all  they 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


161 


wanted,  but  came  so  near  to  it  that  they  thought  it  was  the  wisest 
course  to  be  content,  and  not  to  separate  from  the  party  with 
which  they  had  hitherto  acted.  I thought  the  same  thing  in 
regard  to  The  Evening  Post — namely,  that  it  would  not  be  well 
to  detach  itself  from  the  party  which  had  carried  the  country 
through  the  civil  war  until  it  was  forced  to  do  so  by  signs  of  de- 
generacy. 

“There  may  have  been  some  things  in  the  Post  which  I have 
not  agreed  with  altogether,  being  at  so  great  a distance  from  it 
that  I could  not  be  expected  to  influence  it  in  everything,  but  in 
the  main  it  has  treated  Mr.  Tilden  with  marked  respect. 

“ Yours  truly, 

“ W.  C Bryant.” 

A few  days  later  Mr.  Bryant  addressed  tc  me  another 
letter  on  the  same  subject  as  follows  : 

“Cummington,  September  4th. 

“I  did  not  write  my  previous  letter  for  publication,  and  beg 
that  you  will  not  let  the  press  get  hold  of  it.  I have  a fear  also 
that  I may  have  done  injustice  to  Mr.  Tilden  in  regard  to  the 
reformation  of  the  civil  service.  If  so,  his  letter  of  acceptance 
was  the  cause.  I looked  it  over,  for  some  condemnation  of  the 
practice,  so  long  followed,  of  turning  out  of  office  all  the  men  of 
the  beaten  party  after  an  election.  I found  no  such  condemna- 
tion, and  inferred  that  he  meant  to  leave  himself  at  liberty  to  fol- 
low the  practice.  I have  since  learned  that  he  has,  in  many 
instances,  appointed  men  of  the  republican  party  to  offices  in  his 
gift,  solely  on  account  of  their  competency  and  character.  This 
was  nobly  done,  but  he  will  have  great  difficulty  in  resisting  the 
pressure  which  will  be  brought  to  bear  upon  him  in  order  to  force 
him  to  make  a clean  sweep  of  the  public  offices,  and  fill  them  with 
men  of  his  own  party.  I am  willing,  however,  to  take  what  I 
have  heard  as  a proof  of  Mr.  Tilden’s  present  disposition,  and  hope 
that  it  will  not  be  overcome  by  the  force  which  will  assuredly  be 
brought  against  it.” 

These  letters  were  shown  to  a few  of  our  mutual  friends, 
but  agreeably  to  Mr.  Bryant's  request  were  not  made  pub- 
lic through  the  press.  Mr.  Parke  Godwin,  in  his  most 


162 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


interesting  biography  of  Mr.  Bryant,  states  that  it  was  not 
known  for  which  candidate  Mr.  Bryant  cast  his  ballot. 
My  own  private  opinion  is  that  he  voted  for  the  candidate 
who  was  elected. 

Mr.  Parke  Godwin  informs  me  that  Mr.  Bryant  asked 
him  for  three  electoral  ballots  with  the  Democratic  electors; 
one  he  wanted  for  Mr.  Kline  and  the  other  for  another 
neighbor.  Mr.  Godwin  afterward  asked  Mr.  Kline  how  he 
voted.  He  said  he  voted  the  ticket  Mr.  Bryant  handed 
him.  Mr.  Godwin  subsequently  asked  Mr.  Bryant  if  he 
voted  the  ticket  he  had  handed  him.  Mr.  Bryant  replied  • 
“ Oh  ! you  know  the  ballot  is  a secret  institution.” 

I have  in  my  possession  copies  of  both  Thanatopsis  and 
The  Waterfowl  in  the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Bryant.  Un- 
doubtedly of  all  his  poems  Thanatopsis,  or  a View  of  Death, 
is  the  best  known.  It  has  been  a favorite  of  mine 
from  my  earliest  years.  Speaking  with  Mr.  Bryant  con- 
cerning the  effect  the  reading  of  his  poem  had  upon  my- 
self and  family,  he  said  he  regarded  it  as  but  a youthful 
effort — he  being  at  the  time  but  eighteen  years  old — and 
he  gave  you  the  impression  that  he  did  not  consider  it 
equal  to  some  of  his  more  mature  productions. 

The  well-known  poet,  Richard  H.  Stoddard,  in  his  arti- 
cle on  the  death  of  Mr.  Bryant,  written  for  the  New  York 
Evening  Post , speaks  of  the  poem  as  follows  : 

“ ‘ Thanatopsis  ’ is  to  me  the  most  remarkable  poem  that  was 
ever  written  by  a young  man.  I know  of  nothing  like  it  in  Eng- 
lish literature;  nothing  that  is  at  once  so  grave,  so  sustained,  so 
mature  and  so  universal.  The  feeling  which  pervades  it,  the 
solemn  reflection  which  inspires  it,  belongs  to  all  humanity  and  to 
all  time,  and  is  apart  from  and  beyond  all  religions.  The  truthful 
lesson  of  the  nothingness  of  life  is  the  silent  teaching  of  nature. 
It  could  not  have  been  written  in  the  Old  World,  where  the  con- 
ception of  the  poet  would  have  been  limited  by  circumscribed 
areas  of  burial  and  known  periods  of  time.  It  demanded  a New 
World  of  vast  dimensions  and  unknown  antiquity,  a primeval 
wilderness  that  was  once  populous  with  forgotten  races  of  men. 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


163 


Such  a world  stretched  from  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  to  those  of 
the  Pacific  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  and  waited  for 
a poet  to  grasp  the  secret  of  its  solitude.” 

Some  critics  have  condemned  it  because  of  the  absence 
of  any  recognition  of  the  Diety.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  de- 
nounced it  from  Plymouth  pulpit,  calling  it,  if  my  mem- 
ory serves  me  correctly,  “A  Pagan  Poem, ” because  there 
is  no  mention  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  or  recognition 
of  the  Christian  religion  ; but  then  Mr.  Beecher,  although 
a great  preacher,  is  not  a poet,  and  Mr.  Bryant  was,  and 
perhaps  availed  himself  of  what  is  called  a poetical  license. 

Mr.  George  William  Curtis  summarizes  his  idea  of  Mr. 
Bryant's  meaning  as  follows  : 

“ I linger  upon  it,  because  it  was  the  first  adequate  poetic  voice 
of  the  solemn  New  England  spirit;  and  in  the  grandeur  of  the 
hills,  in  the  heroic  Puritan  tradition  of  sacrifice  and  endurance  in 
the  daily  life,  saddened  by  imperious  and  awful  theological  dog- 
ma, in  the  hard  circumstance  of  the  pioneer  household,  the  con- 
test with  the  wilderness,  the  grim  legends  of  Indians  and  war, 
have  we  not  some  outward  clue  to  the  strain  of  Thanatopsis,  the 
depthless  and  entrancing  sadness,  as  of  inexorable  fate,  that  mur- 
murs like  the  autumn  wind  through  the  forest,  in  the  melancholy 
cadences  of  this  hymn  to  Death  ?” 

Rev.  Dr.  Prime  of  the  New  York  Observer,  recently  told 
me  that  Mr.  Bryant  read  the  manuscript  of  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph 
Alden’s  Evangelical  treatise  on  “ The  Religious  Life,” 
and  at  the  latter's  request  wrote  the  following  introduction 
to  the  book,  which  Dr.  Prime  says  was  never  excelled  in 
the  same  number  of  lines  by  any  uninspired  man  : 

“ This  character,  of  which  Christ  was  a perfect  model,  is,  in  it- 
self, so  attractive,  so  altogther  lovely,  that  I cannot  describe  in  lan- 
guage the  admiration  with  which  I regard  it;  nor  can  I express 
the  gratitude  I feel  for  the  dispensation  which  bestowed  that 
example  on  mankind ; for  the  truths  which  he  taught  and  the 
sufferings  he  endured  for  our  sakes.  I tremble  to  think  what  the 


164 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


world  would  be  without  him.  Take  away  the  blessing  of  the 
advent  of  his  life  and  the  blessings  purchased  by  his  death,  in 
what  an  abyss  of  guilt  would  man  have  been  left  ! It  would  seem 
to  be  blotting  the  sun  out  of  the  heavens — to  leave  our  system  of 
worlds  in  chaos,  frost  and  darkness. 

“ In  my  view  of  the  life,  the  teachings,  the  labors  and  the  suf- 
ferings of  the  blessed  Jesus,  there  can  be  no  admiration  too  pro- 
found; no  love  of  which  the  human  heart  is  capable  too  warm;  no 
gratitude  too  earnest  and  deep  of  which  he  is  justly  the  object. 
It  is  with  sorrow  that  my  love  for  him  is  so  cold  and  my  gratitude 
so  inadequate.  It  is  with  sorrow  that  I see  any  attempt  to  put 
aside  His  teachings  as  a delusion  to  turn  men’s  eyes  from  His  ex- 
ample, to  meet  with  doubt  and  denial  the  story  of  His  life. 

“For  my  part,  if  I thought  that  the  religion  of  skepticism  were 
to  gather  strength  and  prevail,  and  become  the  dominant  view  of 
mankind,  I should  despair  of  the  fate  of  mankind  in  the  years 
that  are  yet  to  come.” 

“ The  Waterfowl,”  which  is  here  inserted,  is  regarded 
by  critics  as  ranking  next  to  “ Thanatopsis  ” in  poetical 
merit. 

TO  A WATERFOWL. 

“ Whither,  ’midst  falling  dew, 

While  glow  the  heavens  with  the  last  steps  of  day, 

Far,  through  their  rosy  depths  dost  thou  pursue 
Thy  solitary  way? 

“ Vainly  the  fowler’s  eye 

Might  mark  thy  distant  flight  to  do  thee  wrong, 

As  darkly  seen  against  the  crimson  sky 
Thy  figure  floats  along. 

“ Seek’st  thou  the  plashy  brink 

Of  weedy  lakes,  or  marge  of  river  wide ; 

Or  where  the  rocking  billows  rise  and  sink 
On  the  chafed  ocean  side  ? 

“There  is  a power  whose  care 

Teaches  thy  way  along  that  pathless  coast — 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


165 


The  desert  and  illimitable  air — 

Lone  wandering,  but  not  lost. 

“ All  day  thy  wings  have  fanned 

At  that  far  height,  the  cold  thin  atmosphere, 

Yet  stoop  not  weary  to  the  welcome  land, 

Though  the  dark  night  is  near. 

“ And  soon  that  evil  shall  end  ; 

Soon  shalt  thou  find  a summer  home  and  rest, 

And  scream  among  thy  fellows;  reeds  shall  bend 
Soon,  o’er  thy  sheltered  nest. 

“ Thou’rtgone,  the  abyss  of  heaven 

Hath  swallowed  up  thy  form;  yet  on  my  heart 
Deeply  hath  sunk  the  lesson  thou  hast  given 
And  shall  not  soon  depart. 

“ He  who,  from  zone  to  zone, 

Guides  through  the  boundless  sky  thy  certain  flight — 
In  the  long  way  that  I must  tread  alone, 

Will  lead  my  steps  aright.” 

There  were  some  changes  made  in  both  “ Thanatopsis  ” 
and  “ The  Waterfowl  ” by  their  author,  as  explained  by  him 
in  the  following  letter  to  Richard  H.  Dana  : — . 

“You  are  quite  right  in  regard  to  the  alteration  of  the  word 
‘pierce’  to  the  word  ‘traverse’  in  my  poem  of  ‘Thanatopsis.’  I 
must  have  the  original  word  restored.  But  in  regard  to  the 
change  made  in  the  ‘ Waterfowl,’  in  which  the  line  now  stands: — 
‘As  darkly  seen  against  the  crimson  sky,’  instead  of  ‘ As  darkly 
painted  on  the  crimson  skv,’  please  read  what  I have  to  say  in 
excuse.  I was  never  satisfied  with  the  word  ‘painted,’  because 
the  next  line  is — ‘Thy  figure  floats  along.’  Now,  from  a very 
early  period — I am  not  sure  that  it  was  not  from  the  very  time  I 
wrote  the  poem — there  seemed  to  me  an  incongruity  between  the 
idea  of  a figure  painted  on  the  sky  and  a figure  moving,  ‘floating  ’ 
across  its  face.  If  the  figure  were  painted,  then  it  would  be  fixed. 
The  incongruity  distressed  me  and  I could  not  be  easy  until  I had 
made  the  change.  I preferred  a plain,  prosaic  expression  to  a 


166 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


picturesque  one,  which  seemed  to  me  false.  ‘Painted  ’ expresses 
well  the  depth  and  strength  of  color  which  fixed  my  attention 
when  I saw  the  bird — for  the  scene  was  founded  on  a real  incident 
— but  it  contradicted  the  motion  of  the  winds  and  the  progress  of 
the  bird  through  the  air.  So  you  have  my  defense.” 

It  is  a curious  and  strange  fact  that  the  three  most 
famous  of  American  journalists  were  not  on  speaking 
terms  with  each  other  up  to  the  time  of  their  deaths.  As 
a matter  of  course,  reference  is  made  to  William  Cullen 
Bryant,  Thurlow  Weed,  and  Horace  Greeley.  Of  these 
three,  Mr.  Weed  was  the  last  to  go.  Of  the  first  two 
named,  neither  had  ever  spoken  to  the  other.  Mr.  Bryant 
told  me  once  that  Mr.  Weed  had  been  pointed  out  to  him, 
and  that  was  the  only  time  he  ever  remembered  seeing  him. 
It  was  a matter  of  much  regret  among  the  friends  of  these 
great  men,  that  they  should  entertain  such  feelings  towards 
each  other.  They  had  been  early  arrayed  against  each 
other  politically,  and  their  methods  in  politics  we.e  at  vari- 
ance, one  of  them  being  much  more  of  a partisan  than  the 
other.  Introducing  the  matter  to  Mr.  Bryant  one  day,  I 
said  that  the  friends  of  both  felt  as  though  the  time  had 
arrived  for  them  to  at  least  recognize  each  other,  although 
differing  so  greatly  in  political  methods.  I said  I happened 
to  know  that  Mr.  Weed  was  anxious  to  become  on  friendly 
terms  with  all  his  former  political  adversaries,  and  men- 
tioned the  fact  of  his  being  a pall-bearer  at  the  funeral  of 
Horace  Greeley,  notwithstanding  the  animosity  of  the  latter 
towards  him  during  his  political  life.  I further  said  I should 
be  glad  to  be  the  medium  of  bringing  about  an  interview 
between  him  and  Mr.  Weed.  Mr.  Bryant  listened  to  me  in 
silence,  then  slowly  raising  his  clear  grey  eyes  to  mine  said, 
“ Blessed  are  the  Peacemakers” — he  paused  for  a moment 
or  two,  when  I said  “ Well,  for  they  shall  see  ” — he  stopped 
again  and  suddenly  arising  from  his  seat,  left  me  saying, 
“ Not  yet ; not  yet !” 

Referring  to  the  matter  again  one  evening  at  the  Cen- 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


167 


tury  Club,  he  said  to  me,  “ I suppose  if  Mr.  Weed  should 
call  upon  me,  I would  have  to  see  him.”  My  reply  was, 
“ I do  not  think  Mr.  Weed  would  call,  unless  I could  bear 
to  him  a message  that  you  would  be  glad  to  see  him  if  he 
did  call.”  Just  then  our  attention  being  attracted  in 
another  direction,  our  conversation  was  interrupted  and  I 
never  had  another  opportunity  to  speak  with  him  again 
upon  the  subject. 

The  last  time  I saw  Mr.  Bryant  alive,  was  the  fatal  day 
on  which  he  was  overcome  with  exhaustion  after  his  oration 
on  the  occasion  of  the  unveiling  of  the  statue  of  Mazzini 
at  the  Central  Park.  Having  walked  from  his  residence 
to  his  office  in  the  Evening  Post  Building,  on  that  exces- 
sively hot  day  in  the  month  of  June,  returning  on  his  way 
home  he  called  to  see  me  about  his  contract  with  the  pub- 
lishers of  the  History  of  the  United  States,  which  he  had 
left  with  me  two  days  previous  for  inspection,  some  changes 
having  been  made  as  regards  terms  in  the  original  contract. 
He  looked  even  then  exhausted  and  seemed  in  haste  to  get 
to  his  home.  I made  some  suggestions  concerning  the  con- 
tract, which,  after  thanking  me,  he  said  he  would  attend 
to  on  the  morrow.  But  alas  ! To  him  the  morrow  never 
came. 

In  Mr.  Parke  Godwin's  biography,  the  following  account 
is  given  of  the  accident  which  befell  him. 

“Mr.  Bryant  partook  of  a slight  luncheon  at  mid-day,  and  soon 
after  was  driven  in  his  own  carriage  to  Central  Park,  where  a 
statue  was  to  be  raised  to  Mazzini,  the  Italian  author  and  patriot. 
A great  crowd  was  already  gathered.  The  day  was  warm  and  the 
sun  shone  so  brightly  when  he  advanced  to  make  his  address, 
that  a friend  insisted  upon  holding  an  umbrella  over  him.  He 
spoke  feebly  at  first,  but  with  more  animation  as  he  began  the  im- 
passioned paragraph  with  which  he  closed  with  the  following 
apostrophe  to  the  impersonation  of  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty. 

“‘Image  of  the  illustrious  champion  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  cast  in  enduring  bronze  to  typify  the  unperishable  renown 
of  thy  original  1 Remain  for  ages  yet  to  come  where  we  place 


168 


WILLIAM  a.  BRYANT. 


thee,  on  this  resort  of  millions.  Remain  till  the  day  shall  dawn — 
far  distant  though  it  may  be — when  the  rights  and  duties  of 
human  brotherhood  shall  be  acknowledged  by  all  the  races  of  man- 
kind.’ 

‘‘These  were  the  last  words  he  was  destined  to  address  to  his 
fellow  men.  In  speaking  them  he  stepped  forth  and  stood  with 
his  uncovered  head  exposed  to  the  full  glare  of  the  sunlight. 
When  he  ceased  speaking,  it  was  observed  by  a great  many  per- 
sons present,  that  he  seemed  weak  and  exhausted,  and  he  should 
have  been  allowed  to  depart  for  his  home  at  once.  But  a gentle- 
man with  whom  he  had  a slight  acquaintance,  Mr.  James  Grant 
Wilson,  invited  him  to  go  to  his  house,  at  a considerable  distance 
across  the  Park.  He  accepted  the  invitation,  and  it  is  said  that 
as  he  walked  along  he  conversed  about  the  statues,  the  birds,  the 
trees,  and  other  objects  in  a chatty  way,  particularly  with  a little 
girl,  a daughter  of  Mr.  Wilson,  whom  he  questioned  as  to  her 
knowledge  of  the  names  of  birds  and  trees.  Going  up  the  steps 
of  the  house,  Mr.  Wilson  went  forward  to  open  the  door,  but  he 
had  scarcely  done  so  when  Mr.  Bryant  fell  directly  backward,  and 
struck  his  head  with  some  degree  of  violence  upon  the  stone  of 
the  steps.  A gentleman  who  was  passing  on  the  streets,  saw  the 
accident  and  hasteued  to  offer  his  services;  at  the  same  time  the 
servants  of  the  house  appeared  and  Mr.  Bryant  was  carried  into 
the  parlor  and  laid  on  a sofa  in  a state  of  insensibility.  Mrs. 
Wilson  had  some  ice-water  brought  with  which  she  bathed  his 
head.  The  sufferer  murmured  ‘Don’t,’  but  exhibited  no  signs  of 
consciousness.  He  at  last  recovered  enough  to  sit  up,  and  a glass 
of  iced  sherry  was  offered  him,  which  he  drank.  This  seemed  to 
revive  him  a good  deal,  and  he  put  his  hand  to  his  head,  moaning, 
‘My  head!  my  poor  head!  I don’t  feel  well.’  Mr.  Wilson 
suggested  his  going  up-stairs  to  bed,  and  asked  where  his  medical 
adviser  could  be  found;  but  all  offers  of  assistance  were  declined. 
The  one  thought  that  seemed  to  possess  his  mind  was  that  of  get- 
ting home.” 

Dr.  Gray,  his  family  physician,  was  of  the  opinion  that 
Mr.  Bryant’s  fall  caused  an  injury  of  the  brain  from  which 
he  at  no  time  expected  his  patient  to  recover.  This 
injury  was  such  that  a younger  and  a stronger  man  could 
scarcely  have  survived  it.  The  swoon  preceding  the  fall 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


169 


was  caused  by  a diminution  or  interruption  of  the  heart  or 
respiratory  organs. 

Mr.  Bryant  lingered  for  fourteen  days  in  this  twilight 
state  between  life  and  death,  when,  at  half-past  five,  on 
the  morning  of  June  12th,  1878,  he  fell  asleep  and  passed 
away.  The  report  of  his  death  produced  a general  expres- 
sion of  sorrow.  All  classes  of  the  people  seemed  to  feel 
spontaneously,  that  they  had  lost  one  who  was  as  he  had 
often  been  called  “ the  first  citizen  of  the  Republic." 

On  the  12th  of  November,  1878,  the  members  of  the  Cen- 
tury Club  had  a meeting  to  commemorate  the  death  of  their 
late  President.  The  rooms  were  adorned  with  several  por- 
traits of  Mr.  Bryant  and  paintings  by  members,  illustrating 
some  of  his  poems.  Original  poems  written  for  the  occasion 
were  read  by  Bayard  Taylor,  R.  II.  Stoddard,  E C.  Sted- 
man  and  a most  eloquent  oration  delivered  by  Hon.  John 
Bigelow. 

The  funeral  of  Mr.  Bryant  took  place  on  the  morning 
of  June  14tb,  1878,  at  All  Souls’  Church  in  New  York 
city.  The  church  was  crowded  by  his  hosts  of  neighbors 
and  friends,  who  knew  the  poet  so  well  while  living. 

The  funeral  address  was  delivered  by  his  pastor  and 
life-long  friend,  the  Rev.  Henry  W.  Bellows,  D.D.,  who 
closed  his  remarks  with  these  appropriate  words  : 

“ We  are  about  to  bear  his  remains  to  their  quiet  and  green 
resting  place,  by  the  side  of  his  beloved  wife  and  the  good  angel 
of  his  life,  in  Roslyn,  L.  I.  Let  me  read  in  conclusion  the  war- 
rant for  this  step  in  his  own  poem,  June,  which  I am  persuaded 
you  will  feel  to  be  a fitting  conclusion  to  these  memorial  services: 

‘ I gazed  upon  the  glorious  sky, 

And  the  green  mountains  round, 

And  thought  that  when  I came  to  lie 
At  rest  within  the  ground, 

’Twere  pleasant  that  in  flowery  June, 

When  rooks  send  up  a cheerful  tune, 

And  groves  a cheerful  sound, 


170 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


The  sexton’s  hand,  my  grave  to  make, 

The  rich,  green  mountain  turf  should  break. 

‘ A cell  within  the  frozen  mould, 

A coffin  borne  through  sleet, 

And  icy  clods  above  it  rolled, 

While  fierce  the  tempest  beat — 

Away  ! — I will  not  think  of  these; 

Blue  be  the  sky  and  soft  the  breeze, 

Earth  green  beneath  the  feet, 

And  be  the  damp  mould  gently  pressed 
Into  my  narrow  place  of  rest. 

* There  through  the  long,  long  summer  hours, 

The  golden  light  should  lie, 

And  thick  young  herbs  and  groups  of  flowers 
Stand  in  their  beauty  by. 

The  oriole  should  build  and  tell 
His  love-talk  close  beside  my  cell; 

The  idle  butterfly 

Should  rest  him  there,  and  there  be  heard 
The  housewife  bee  and  humming  bird. 

* And  what  if  cheerful  shouts  at  noon 

Come  from  the  village  sent; 

Or  song  of  maids,  beneath  the  moon, 

With  fairy  laughter  blent  ? 

And  what  if  in  the  evening  light, 

Bethrothcd  lovers  walk  in  sight 
Of  my  low  monument  ? 

I would  the  lovely  scene  around 
Might  know  no  sadder  sight  or  sound. 

* I know  that  I no  more  should  see 

The  season’s  glorious  show; 

Nor  would  its  brightness  shine  for  me, 

Nor  its  wild  music  flow ; 

But  if  around  my  place  of  sleep, 

The  friends  I love  should  come  to  weep, 

They  might  not  haste  to  go. 

Soft  airs,  and  song,  and  light  and  bloom, 
Should  keep  them  lingering  by  my  tomb. 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


171 


* These  to  their  softened  hearts  should  bear 
The  thought  of  what  has  been, 

And  speak  of  one  who  cannot  share 
The  gladness  of  the  scene; 

Whose  part  in  all  the  pomp  that  fills 
The  circuit  of  the  summer  hills, 

So  that  his  grave  is  green ; 

And  deeply  would  their  hearts  rejoice, 

To  hear  again  his  living  voice.’” 

George  William  Curtis,  the  graceful  orator,  in  his  com- 
memorative address  at  the  Acadamy  of  Music,  before  the 
New  York  Historical  Society,  December  30th  1883,  speaks 
thus  eloquently  of  his  cherished  friend  : 

“This  great  and  distinguished  assembly  is  in  itself  an  impos- 
ing tribute  to  the  memory  of  an  illustrious  man.  But  even  more 
impressive  than  this  presence  of  genius  and  distinction  of  charac- 
ter and  intelligence  is  the  absence  of  one  citizen — that  venerable 
figure  which  had  come  to  represent  in  this  community  all  the  civic 
graces  and  virtues  and  from  whose  temperate  lips  on  every  occa- 
sion of  literary  and  patriotic  commemoration  of  political  emergency 
or  of  public  appeal,  we  have  been  accustomed  to  hear  the  fitting 
words  of  counsel,  of  encouragement,  of  consolation.  When  Cooper 
died,  the  restless  city  paused  to  hear  Bryant’s  words  of  praise  and 
friendship.  When  Irving  followed  Cooper,  all  hearts  turned  to 
Bryant  and  it  was  before  this  society,  and  in  this  place  that  he 
tole  the  story  of  Irving’s  life.  Now  Bryant  has  followed  Cooper 
and  Irving  the  last  of  that  early  triumvirate  of  American  litera- 
ture, not  less  renowed  than  the  great  triumvirate  of  American 
politics,  and  he  whose  life  began  before  the  century,  leaves  behind 
but  one  of  his  early  literary  contemporaries,  the  venerable  poet, 
Dana,  friend  of  Bryant’s  youth,  at  an  age  prolonged  beyond  four- 
score and  ten. 

* An  old  age  serene  and  bright, 

And  lovely  as  a Lapland  night. 

“ The  editor  who  published  Thanatopsis  sixty-one  years  ago,  has 
seen  its  author  ‘join  the  innumerable  caravan,  and  lie  down  to 
plasant  dreams.’  But  a thousand  eloquent  and  reverent  voices  of 
the  press  and  the  pulpit,  of  the  college  and  club,  of  orator  and 


172 


WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT. 


poet,  from  the  sea-coast  to  the  prairies  have  spoken  for  him  who 
spoke  for  all.  There  was  no  eminent  American  upon  whom  the 
judgment  of  his  countrymen  would  be  more  immediate  and  unani- 
mous. The  broad  and  simple  outline  of  his  character  and  career 
had  become  universally  familiar,  like  a mountain  or  the  sea,  and  in 
speaking  of  him,  I but  repeat  the  thought  of  every  American,  and 
register  a judgment  already  pronounced.  A patriarch  of  our  lit- 
erature, and  in  a permanent  sense  the  oldest  of  our  poets,  a scholar 
familiar  with  many  languages  and  literatures,  finely  sensitive  to 
the  influence  of  nature  and  familiar  with  trees  and  birds  and  flow- 
ers, he  was  especially  fitted,  it  might  be  thought,  for  scholarly 
seclusion  and  the  delights  of  the  strict  literary  life.  But  he  who 
melodiously  marked  the  solitary  way  of  the  waterfowl  through 
the  rosy  depth  of  the  glowing  heaven,  and  on  the  lonely  New  Eng- 
land hills, 

‘Rock-ribbed  and  ancient  as  the  sun,’ 

saw  in  the  river  and  valley,  forest  and  ocean,  only  the  solemn 
decoration  of  man’s  tomb,  the  serious  musing  country  boy  felt  also 
the  magic  of  human  sympathy,  the  impulse  of  his  country,  the 
political  genius  of  his  race,  and  the  poet  became  distinctively  an 
American  and  a public  political  leader.” 

The  late  George  Ripley's  estimate  of  Mr.  Bryant  is  well 
expressed  in  the  following  draft  of  an  epitaph  which  was 
found  among  the  former's  papers  after  his  death  : 

SACRED  TO  THE  MEMORY  OF 

W.  C.  B. 

IN  ORDER  OF  TIME  AND  EXCELLENCE  OF  GENIUS 
ONE  OF  THE  FATHERS  OF  AMERICAN  POETRY*, 

A WRITER  OF  CONSUMMATE  ENGLISH  PROSE;  BY  HIS 
WISDOM  AND  INSIGHT  A JOURNALIST  OF 
MASTERLY  POWER  ; 

THOUGH  HOLDING  NO  PUBLIC  OFFICE,  A STATESMAN 
OF  INCORRUPTIBLE  INTEGRITY,  OF  LOFTY  PATRIOT- 
ISM, AND  OF  SUPREME  DEVOTION  TO  THE 
HIGHEST  INTERESTS  OF  HIS  COUNTRY. 

AS  A MAN,  AUSTERE,  RELIGIOUS,  SELF-CONTAINED  ; 

HIS  LIFE  WAS  AN  EXPRESSION  OF  HIS  POETRY, 

HIS  DEATH  AN  ILLUSTRATION  OF  THE 
SPIRIT  OF  “ THANATOPSIS.” 

B.  Nov.  3,  1794. 


VII. 

D.  APPLETON  & CO. 


The  Infinitely  Great  and  the  Infinitely  Little — Daniel  Ap- 
pleton and  Jonathan  Leavitt — A Sailor  calls  fQr  a 
Peck  of  Gospel  Seeds — William  II  Appleton's  Two 
'Voyages  to  Pur  ope — Interesting  Anecdotes — Timely 
Advice  of  a Friend — A Cordial  Appleton  Embrace — 
Daniel  Appleton  goes  to  Europe — Astonishes  John 
Bull — Secures  great  Bargains  in  Paris — Author's  first 
Call  on  the  Appletons — Publication  of  Picturesque 
America — The  American  Cyclopedia — Cost  over  Half 
a Million  Dollars — Enormous  Sales — Pusey  and  Dar- 
win raise  a Storm — Warning  from  Bishop  Whitting  - 
ham — Immense  Sale  of  Seward's  Travels — General 
Sherman  and  Book  Canvassers  — Beaconsfield's 
Lothair  Secured  by  Cable — Professor  Youman's  Sci- 
entific Enterprise — John  A.  Appleton's  business  Habits 
and  Christian  Character — Generous  Church  Contri- 
butions— “ John  ivas  the  best  of  All  of  us  " — His  peace- 
ful Death. 

“ 'T^HE  infinitely  great  and  the  infinitely  little  ” charac- 
terize  two  of  the  publications  of  this  great  publish- 
ing house.  I refer,  of  course,  to  the  American  Cyclopedia 
and  their  first  publication,  Daily  Crumbs. 

The  house  of  D.  Appleton  & Co.  stands  without  a rival 
in  America  and  probably  in  the  world,  in  the  variety  and 
entirety  of  its  publications.  Other  houses  may  have  a 
larger  list  of  miscellaneous  and  standard  publications,  and 

[173] 


174 


D.  APPLETON  & CO. 


two  at  least  have  as  large  a list  of  school-books,  but  the 
publications  of  the  house  of  D.  Appleton  & Co.  represent 
the  whole  range  of  literature,  from  a spelling-book  of  which 
a million  copies  are  annually  sold,  to  the  monumental 
cyclopedia  of  which  a million  dollars*  worth  are  sold  each 
year.  In  costly  and  elegantly  illustrated  books  and  com- 
prehensive lists  of  scientific  works,  they  stand  without  a 
peer.  Having  known  the  venerable  founder  as  well  as  the 
other  senior  members  of  the  house  nearly  half  a century,  I 
can  write  understanding^,  especially  as  I was  connected 
with  them  in  an  important  department  for  more  than  ten 
years. 

Daniel  Appleton,  unlike  the  founders  of  Harper  & Bros.* 
establishment,  was  not  trained,  as  they  were,  from  the 
start,  in  the  publishing  and  printing  business.  He  was 
for  several  years  a dry-goods  merchant  in  Boston  ; from 
thence  he  removed  to  and  established  himself  in  business 
in  New  York  in  the  year  1825.  He  first  located  at  No.  16 
Exchange  place,  then  opposite  the  post-office,  and  the  Ex- 
change building,  now  the  Custom  House.  In  those  days 
this  was  a fashionable  quarter  of  the  city  for  retail  trade. 
On  his  arrival  there  he  induced  his  brother-in-law,  Jona- 
than Leavitt,  then  a bookbinder  at  Andover,  Mass.,  to 
join  him,  he  furnishing  the  capital  and  becoming  a special 
partner  in  the  book-selling  business.  The  store  in  Ex- 
change place  was  divided  in  two  parts,  and  as  business 
prospered,  a few  years  later  Mr.  Appleton*s  eldest  son, 
William,  then  a minor,  but  now  the  present  senior  of  the 
firm,  took  charge  as  a clerk  of  the  bookselling  department. 

The  term  of  partnership  of  five  years  having  expired, 
Mr.  Leavitt  thought  he  could  carry  on  the  business  without 
any  further  aid  of  capital  from  Mr.  Appleton,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  the  stock  should  be  divided  equally  between 
them  according  to  the  quantity.  After  the  division 
was  made,  Mr.  Leavitt  continued  the  bookselling  business 
on  his  own  account,  corner  of  Broadway  and  John  Street, 
securing  the  services  of  the  late  George  P.  Putnam,  then  a 


D.  APPLETON  & CO. 


175 


youngster  of  about  sixteen  years,  who  afterwards  became 
so  famous  in  the  world  of  letters  and  books.  Mr.  Leavitt 
was  the  father  of  George  A.  Leavitt,  formerly  of  the  well 
known  publishing  firm  of  Leavitt  & Allen,  but  now — as 
he  has  been  for  many  years — at  the  head  of  the  book  trade- 
sale  firm  of  George  A.  Leavitt  & Co.  Daniel  Appleton 
afterwards  removed  with  his  stock  to  what  was  then  known 
as  Clinton  Hall,  in  Beekman  street,  where  he  established 
himself  as  a bookseller. 

He  had  been  successful  in  his  undertaking  thus  far  and 
decided  to  make  a venture  in  the  book  publishing  business. 
His  first  publication  bears  the  imprint  of  1831,  a little 
miniature  volume,  entitled  Crumbs  from  the  Master’s 
Table.  It  was  but  three  inches  square  and  half  an  inch 
thick  and  contained  one  hundred  and  ninety-two  pages. 
The  book  has  been  long  out  of  print.  A copy  was  obtained, 
however,  a few  years  since,  by  an  advertising  paragraph, 
stating  that  the  firm  would  give  a copy  of  the  largest  book 
they  published  in  exchange  for  a copy  of  the  first.  The 
paragraph  attracted  the  attention  of  an  old  lady  in  Mary- 
land, who  sent  the  book,  and  the  firm  sent  her  in  return  a 
volume  twenty  times  the  size.  Mr.  William  H.  Appleton 
had  this  precious  relic  handsomely  rebound  and  fitted  to  a 
velvet-lined  silver  box  and  keeps  it  carefully  guarded  at  his 
house. 

The  next  publication  was  a similar  sized  volume  of  the 
same  nature,  entitled  Gospel  Seeds.  A little  anecdote  is 
connected  with  the  issue  of  this  book.  A government  ves- 
sel had  arrived  in  port  and  the  sailors  had  been  paid  off. 
Their  direct  course  toward  Broadway  was  up  Beekman 
street.  One  of  them,  who  was  pretty  veil  intoxicated, 
while  passing  the  store  saw  the  little  placard  “ Gospel 
Seeds  for  sale  here.”  The  sailor  reeled  into  the  store  and 
wanted  to  know  how  much  they  were  a peck. 

The  third  book  published  was  entitled  Refuge  in  Time 
of  Plague  and  Pestilence.  This  was  in  1832,  the  year  that 
the  Asiatic  cholera  raged  so  fearfully  throughout  the  coun- 


176 


D.  APPLETON  & CO. 


try.  The  little  volume  had  an  immense  sale,  many  mis- 
taking it,  no  doubt,  for  a treatise  on  that  terrible  disease, 
when  in  truth  it  was  a devotional  volume,  pointing  out 
Christ  as  the  refuge.  These  three  tiny  volumes  were  very 
appropriate  in  those  times.  But  little  more  was  done  in 
publication  of  books  for  some  time  thereafter,  Mr.  Apple- 
ton  confining  himself  to  the  importation  of  European  pub- 
lications and  jobbing  American  books. 

William  H.  Appleton,  the  present  senior  member,  once 
told  me  that  about  that  time,  and,  indeed,  for  some  time 
previous,  he  had  been  very  anxious  to  go  to  Europe,  and  his 
father  promised  him  that  when  he  was  twenty-one  years  of 
age  he  should  go.  That  time  had  arrived,  and  his  father 
kept  his  word  faithfully.  He  soon  after  embarked  for 
Liverpool  in  a sailing  vessel.  She  made  the  remarkable  pas- 
sage of  eighteen  days,  all  the  sails  having  been  set  until  the 
ship  arrived.  Young  Appleton  had  no  letters,  but  went  on 
his  own  account.  On  his  arrival  in  London  he  called  to 
see,  among  others,  the  senior  Mr.  Longman,  who  was  then 
quite  an  old  man.  The  house  had  been  in  existence  nearly 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  Mr.  Appleton  says  that  he  can 
well  remember  the  senior  Longman’s  surprise,  when  he  had 
presented  his  card  and  learned  his  business.  It  seemed  so 
strange  to  him  that  one  so  young  had  come  so  far  to  transact 
business,  without  having  had  any  European  experience  what- 
ever. He  was  very  cordial,  however,  and  introduced  him  to 
his  son,  William  Longman,  with  whom  he  became  very  inti- 
mate. At  that  time  they  used  to  have  dinners  over  their 
place  in  Paternoster  Row.  Young  Appleton  was  invited 
to  dine  any  day  and  made  it  a point  to  go  at  least  once  a 
week.  He  there  met  quite  a number  of  authors  from  time 
to  time,  and,  among  others,  Tom  Moore,  with  whom  he 
frequently  conversed.  He  also  met  the  original  John  Mur- 
ray, Lord  Byron’s  publisher,  but  the  former  was  not  spe- 
cially cordial. 

While  in  London,  the  “Book  of  Beauty”  had  just  been 
published,  and  in  time  for  Christmas  sales.  It  was  an 


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expensive  book,  and  many  of  my  bookselling  readers  will 
remember  the  favor  with  which  the  beautiful  volume  was 
received.  Mr.  Appleton  had  no  authority  to  buy  books, 
but  he  induced  the  publisher  to  sell  him  one  thousand 
copies  on  time,  notwithstanding  his  father  had  no  credit 
with  them.  He  wrote  his  father  what  he  had  done  and 
that  he  must  carry  out  his  undertaking.  His  father  was 
very  much  alarmed,  because  the  amount  was  considerable 
for  the  house  to  carry  at  that  time.  On  the  arrival  of  the 
Book  of  Beauty  in  New  York,  they  were  immediately  dis- 
posed of  to  the  booksellers. 

Mr.  Appleton  was  so  much  pleased  with  the  venture 
that  he  wrote  his  son  that  he  might  travel  on  the  continent 
for  three  months,  where  he  soon  went,  first  visiting  Leip- 
sic,  becoming  acquainted  with  Tauchnitz,  publisher  of  the 
Hebrew  Bible  and  the  long  series  of  Greek  and  Latin  clas- 
sics. He  formed  quite  intimate  relations  with  the  old 
gentleman.  The  latter  had  one  peculiar  eccentricity — he 
was  always  smoking  his  white  clay  pipes,  and  after  smoking 
one  a little  while  he  would  lay  it  down  anywhere  he  hap- 
pened to  be,  on  a desk,  chair,  or  window-sill.  He  never 
used  them  but  once,  and  the  store  and  his  house  were  liter- 
ally strewn  with  pipes.  After  travelling  through  the  con- 
tinent Mr.  Appleton  returned  home. 

A year  later  he  was  sent  over  to  Europe  again  to  buy 
books  with  sufficient  letters  of  credit.  On  his  voyage  he 
became  acquainted  with  Mr.  George  B.  Blake,  of  Boston, 
a large  dry-goods  merchant.  On  their  arrival  in  London, 
they  lodged  at  a hotel  on  Ludgate  Hill.  Mr.  Blake  was  a 
man  of  wide  experience  and  a large  buyer.  After  learning 
the  state  of  affairs  in  the  business  world,  Mr.  Blake  advised 
Mr.  Appleton  not  to  buy  anything  at  present,  and  acting 
under  his  advice,  he  made  no  purchases,  but  soon  returned 
with  Mr.  Blake  in  a sailing  vessel.  In  order  to  expend  no 
money  unnecessarily  he  took  with  him  but  two  pounds  for 
incidental  expenses,  after  having  paid  his  passage. 

After  he  got  on  board  ship  he  found  the  vessel  filled 


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with  representatives  of  mercantile  houses  in  New  York  and 
Boston. 

To  pass  the  time  away  they  used  to  play  vingt-et-un , 
or  some  simple  game,  and  his  two  pounds  did  not  last  long, 
so  he  was  obliged  to  use  little  I.  0.  U’s.  The  wagers  were 
from  ten  to  twenty  cents.  His  paper  issues  were  very  con- 
siderable in  number,  but  very  small  in  sum  total.  His  fel- 
low passengers  were  very  agreeable,  lively  and  full  of  hope. 
One  morning  about  sunrise,  as  they  were  nearing  the  coast, 
some  young  men  bantered  him  upon  the  large  amount  of 
paper  he  had  out.  Mr.  Appleton  said  to  them  he  would 
wager  that  as  soon  as  they  landed  they  would  learn  that 
there  were  not  more  than  two  of  the  great  houses  they  rep- 
resented who  had  not  failed.  Mr.  Appleton  further  said 
that  there  were  two  houses  that  he  knew  had  not  : one 
was  his  father’s,  and  the  other  that  of  his  room-mate,  George 
B.  Blake,  as  neither  house  owed  anything,  having  bought 
nothing. 

The  New  York  Courier  and  Enquirer,  then  the  leading 
commercial  paper,  controlled  by  the  late  James  Watson 
Webb,  had  sent  out  his  dispatch  boat  to  get  the  news.  The 
vessel  had  made  a long  trip — some  forty-five  days.  When 
the  reporter  got  on  board,  he  told  the  captain  that  there 
was  a terrible  state  of  things  on  shore.  All  the  .banks  were 
broken  ! Mr.  Blake,  hearing  the  conversation,  jumped  from 
his  berth  and  said,  “Did  you  say  all  the  banks  had 
failed  ? Surely  not  the  Boston  Banks.”  “ Yes,”  replied 
the  reporter  ; “ they  were  the  first  to  fail.”  “ Then,  said  Mr. 
Blake,  “ it  is  indeed  dreadful,  they  did  not  fail  during  the 
late  war.”  This  was  in  1837,  the  time  of  the  great  finan- 
cial disaster.  As  soon  as  they  got  hold  of  the  city  papers 
they  found  that  all  the  houses  represented  by  these  return- 
ing buyers  except  those  of  Mr.  Appleton  and  Mr.  Blake 
had  failed  disastrously. 

At  that  time  it  was  customary  to  land  in  small  boats 
at  Whitehall  street.  Appleton  walked  from  there  up 
Broadway.  As  he  approached  his  father’s  store,  then  on 


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179 


Broadway,  near  John  street,  he  saw  him  waiting  for  him 
to  come  up.  His  father,  instead  of  holding  out  his  hand 
to  greet  him,  as  he  expected  said,  “ William,  have  you 
bought  anything?”  The  latter  replied,  “Not  a penny's 
worth.”  His  father  then  quickly  said,  “ Come  to  my 
arms  ! Come  to  my  arms  !”  A quite  unexpected  and  un- 
usual greeting,  my  readers  who  knew  him  will  say,  for  one 
of  so  stern  a mould  and  so  noted  for  reserve  as  Daniel 
Appleton.  Young  Appleton  gained  great  credit  for  his 
foresight,  for  he  says  it  would  have  gone  very  hard  with 
their  house  had  he  gone  into  debt  at  that  time. 

Soon  after  Mr.  Appleton’s  return  from  Europe  he  said 
to  his  father,  “Now  the  business  is  good  and  your  affairs 
are  in  pretty  snug  shape,  I think  you  ought  to  go  to  Europe 
and  take  mother  and  sister  with  you.”  They  finally  con- 
sented to  go.  This  sister  was  married  while  abroad  in 
Wales  to  James  E.  Cooley,  well  known  to  booksellers  as  the 
head  of  the  book  trade-sale  firm  of  Cooley  & Bangs,  after- 
wards Cooley,  Keese  & Hill.  Mr.  Cooley  was  the  author 
of  a book  published  by  the  Appletons  : The  American  in 
Egypt.  He  was  also  elected  New  York  State  Senator.  He 
died  during  the  past  year  in  Florence,  Italy,  where  he  had 
resided  for  many  years.  He  was  the  father-in-law  of 
George  A.  Leavitt  before  referred  to. 

One  day  while  in  London  Mr.  Daniel  Appleton  called 
upon  a Mr.  Duncan,  then  a book-publisher  of  some  renown, 
doing  business  in  Paternoster  Row.  He  was  a publisher 
of  an  edition  of  the  Hebrew  Bible,  of  which  Mr.  Appleton 
wanted  several  hundred  copies,  but  desired  a credit  of  three 
or  four  months.  Mr.  Duncan  declined  to  sell  on  time,  tell- 
ing Mr.  Appleton  that  he  had  made  up  his  mind  not  to 
give  a credit  to  any  Americans  again,  as  he  had  lost  too 
much  money  by  them  already.  Mr.  Appleton  replied,  “ Do 
you  say  you  have  lost  a great  deal  of  money  by  American 
booksellers  ?”  Duncan  then  said,  “ Yes  I do  !”  “Well,” 
said  Mr.  Appleton,  “ if  you  will  make  out  your  account 
against  any  or  all  the  American  booksellers  by  whom  you 


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have  lost  money,  limited  as  my  available  means  are  at 
present,  I will  give  you  a draft  for  the  whole  amount  at 
once."  Mr.  Duncan,  with  much  surprise,  then  said,  “ What 
do  you  mean  ? The  amount  due  from  them  is  too  large.  Y ou 
could  not  possibly  pay  it."  Mr.  Appleton  said,  “Let  me 
have  the  accounts  and  I will  pay  them  at  once."  Mr. 
Duncan  then  presented  the  names  and  the  amounts  due 
from  the  American  debtors.  After  Mr.  Appleton  had 
looked  over  the  list,  he  said,  “ These  are  not  Americans  ! 
They  are  everyone  of  them  Englishmen  who  are  brought  up 
here  in  Paternoster  Row  and  sent  to  America  to  act  as 
your  agents  for  the  sale  of  your  books.  I don't  propose  to 
pay  for  them  ! I want  the  accounts  against  the  American 
booksellers  ! Mr.  Duncan,  thus  brought  to  bay,  said,  “Mr. 
Appleton,  you  have  got  me  this  time  ; there  is  a difference, 
and  you  shall  have  all  the  books  and  credit  desired  ! " 

Mr.  Appleton,  while  in  London,  established  an  agency 
at  1G  Little  Britain  for  the  house,  which  has  continued  to 
be  the  London  branch  of  D.  Appleton  & Co.  until  this 
day.  He  afterwards  went  to  Paris.  While  there  he  saw 
on  the  Quai  Voltaire,  on  the  river,  a large  collection  of 
books  exposed  for  sale  in  the  open  air.  Among  others 
there  was  a large  collection  of  illuminated  manuscripts  and 
missals  made  by  the  priests  in  the  monasteries,  and  with- 
out knowing  anything  special  about  them,  except  that  they 
were  regarded  as  very  rare,  bought  enough  to  fill  several 
cases  of  them  and  sent  them  to  America.  He  wrote  his 
son  to  be  sure  and  not  give  them  away  cheap,  because  they 
were  very  scarce  and  there  were  no  such  collections  in 
America.  When  received,  they  were  opened  and  exposed 
to  view  a few  at  a time.  They  were  eagerly  purchased,  and 
the  profit  on  those  few  books  paid  all  the  expenses  of  Mr. 
Appleton  and  family  in  their  trip  to  Europe. 

In  the  year  1838,  Mr.  William  H.  Appleton  became  a 
partner  with  his  father,  the  firm  then  becoming  D.  Apple- 
ton  & Co.  About  this  time  I first  met  these  two  gentle- 
men at  their  then  well-equipped  wholesale  bookstore,  hav- 


D.  APPLETON  & CO. 


181 


ing  called  to  purchase  a bill  of  books  for  H.  Ivison  & Oo , 
for  whom  I was  then  a clerk  at  Auburn,  N.  Y.  The 
kindly  face  of  Daniel  Appleton  is  fresh  in  my  memory  as  I 
presented  my  credentials.  William  H.  Appleton  was  then 
twenty-four  years  old,  and  very  politely  introduced  me  to 
his  brother  John,  then  a clerk  and  head  salesman. 

The  firm  at  that  time  had  but  a moderate  list  of  their 
own  publications,  but  were  jobbers  in  domestic  and  import- 
ed books.  I can  remember  very  well  the  patience  and  per- 
suasiveness with  which  the  head  salesman  wrote  down  my 
orders. 

Before  his  clerkship  it  seems  Mr.  John  Appleton  wanted 
to  get  away  from  home  and  strike  out  for  himself,  and  had 
gone  with  his  father’s  permission  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the 
wilds  of  Michigan,  and  at  that  early  day  he  once  told 
me  found  more  wild-oat  banks  and  fever  and  ague  than 
lucrative  business.  After  he  had  been  absent  some  time, 
his  father  said  to  his  brother  William,  “How  in  the  world 
can  I get  John  back  ? I don’t  like  to  have  him  so  far  away 
in  that  distant  western  country.”  William  said  to  his 
father,  “ I will  tell  you  what  to  do  ! Don’t  pay  his  next 
draft.”  He  did  not.  John  came  back  quick  enough,  and 
soon  afterward  entered  the  store  as  leading  clerk. 

Ten  years  later  Mr.  Daniel  Appleton  retired  from  busi- 
ness. He  had  seen  the  house  which  he  had  founded  and 
which  had  grown  rich  and  prosperous  under  his  manage- 
ment, established  on  a solid  basis.  He  desired  that  his 
name  should  be  retained  in  the  firm  as  long  as  it  lasted. 
At  his  request  his  son  William  promised  never  to  sign  a 
check  or  a note  without  the  name  “ Daniel  Appleton  ” 
written  in  full,  and  that  promise  has  been  faithfully  kept 
up  to  the  present  time. 

The  firm  was  re-organized  the  same  year  with  William 
H.  Appleton  at  its  head,  and  his  brothers  John  A.  and  Daniel 
Sidney  associated  with  him  as  partners.  Mr.  D.  Sidney 
Appleton  first  represented  the  house  in  Europe,  giving 
much  satisfaction  to  the  firm  by  his  intelligent  manage- 


182 


D.  APPLETON  & CO. 


ment  of  the  firm’s  interests  abroad  for  several  years.  On 
his  return  he  took  charge  of  the  manufacturing  depart- 
ment after  they  established  their  OAvn  printing-house  and 
bindery.  The  year  following  Daniel  Appleton  died,  deeply 
lamented  by  all  who  had  the  pleasure  of  his  personal 
acquaintance.  He  did  not  live  to  see  the  colossal  propor- 
tions of  the  present  firm,  now  so  widely  known  both  in 
Europe  and  America. 

One  summer  afternoon,  in  the  year  1857,  I was  riding 
towards  home  on  the  Hudson  River  Railroad.  Mr.  William 
H.  Appleton,  who  was  a fellow-passenger  and  resident  of 
the  same  town,  showed  me  the  first  printed  pages  of  the 
first  volume  of  a new  Cyclopedia  which  his  house  proposed 
to  publish  in  sixteen  large  octavo  volumes.  As  so  great  an 
enterprise  required  a good  deal  of  money,  I suggested  to 
Mr.  Appleton  that  this  was  a pretty  big  undertaking  for 
the  times,  as  we  were  then  in  what  was  called  the  panic 
year.  Mr.  Appleton  thought  they  could  stand  it,  blue  as 
the  outlook  was  for  business,  and  stand  it  they  did,  and 
stood  it  they  have  without  a day’s  interruption  in  their 
prosperous  career,  although  in  that  year  many  banks  and 
large  business  houses  failed.  Mr.  George  Ripley  and  Mr. 
Charles  A.  Dana  were  to  be  the  editors,  and  the  Hew 
American  Cyclopedia  was  completed  in  sixteen  volumes 
in  about  six  years,  notwithstanding  the  interruption  of 
business  by  the  great  Civil  War.  Of  this  Cyclopedia 
tens  of  thousands  of  sets  were  sold.  Eifteen  years  later, 
the  firm  decided,  in  consequence  of  the  great  changes 
made  by  the  wars  of  Europe  and  America  in  geographical 
boundaries  and  political  conditions,  as  well  as  of  the  great 
advances  made  in  the  scientific  world,  to  re-issue  the  cyclo- 
pedia with  the  modified  title  of  the  “ American  Cyclo- 
pedia,” which,  like  the  old  cyclopedia,  was  to  be  completed 
in  sixteen  volumes,  under  the  same  editorship,  but,  unlike 
that  edition,  fully  illustrated  with  over  six  thousand  en- 
gravings and  maps. 

The  same  year,  1872,  I became  manager  of  the  bound 


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183 


book  subscription  department  of  the  firm.  Mr.  William 
H.  Appleton,  who  may  be  called  the  literary  father  of  the 
“American  Cyclopedia, " said  to  me  one  day,  “Derby, 
we're  going  to  publish  a new  edition  of  the  cylopedia,  as 
you  are  already  aware,  which  will  cost  probably  not  less 
than  half  a million.  Do  you  think  you  can  swing  it  in  your 
department  ?"  I told  him  I thought  I could.  He  said  he 
doubted  it,  but  that  I might  try.  And  try  I did,  and  suc- 
ceeded, I believe,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  firm  as  well  as 
myself.  The  work  was  published  in  bi-monthly  volumes 
and  completed  in  1876.  Each  volume  cost  the  publishers 
more  than  thirty  thousand  dollars,  and  the  completed  work 
over  half  a million  dollars,  not  counting  the  manufacture 
of  the  books.  Of  course  no  house,  except  one  of  large 
resources,  could  carry  out  such  an  undertaking  and  wait 
long  for  the  return  of  the  investment  on  so  large  an  outlay. 

This  revised  edition  of  Appleton's  American  Cyclo- 
pedia has  already  reached  a sale  of  more  than  a million 
and  a half  of  volumes.  The  average  price  being  six  dollars 
per  volume.  A valuable  analytic  index  supplements  the 
work,  which  is  spoken  of  elsewhere. 

The  “American  Annual  Cyclopedia"  was  begun  in  the 
year  1861,  and  has  been  continued  ever  since,  under  the 
editorship  of  the  late  Judge  William  J.  Tenney,  who  died 
the  past  year.  This  work  is  uniform  in  size  and  price  with 
the  American  Cyclopedia,  and  is  a complete  record  of 
the  important  events  occurring  throughout  the  world  each 
year.  Neither  this  work  nor  that  of  the  American  Cyclo- 
pedia could  be  undertaken  without  a loss  to  the  publishers 
if  they  depended  on  their  sale  in  the  book-stores.  It  was 
absolutely  necessary  to  make  the  sales  strictly  by  subscrip- 
tion through  canvassing  agents,  and  even  then,  in  order  to 
realize  a handsome  profit,  the  installment  system  was 
adopted. 

In  the  year  1865,  Mr.  George  S.  Appleton,  another 
brother,  who  had  been  a publisher  and  bookseller  in  Phila- 
delphia, was  admitted  into  the  firm.  He  was  an  educated 


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D.  APPLETON  & CO. 


gentleman  of  fine  artistic  taste,  to  whom  the  world  is 
indebted  for  those  magnificent  works  published  by  the  firm 
— Picturesque  America,  Picturesque  Europe,  and  Pic- 
turesque Palestine.  Each  of  these  works  required  an  in- 
vestment of  about  a quarter  of  a million  of  dollars. 
Picturesque  America  was  edited  by  William  Cullen  Bryant 
and  Oliver  B.  Bunce,  the  latter  having  full  charge  of  the 
artistic  and  literary  department  of  the  work.  Picturesque 
Europe  was  edited  by  Bayard  Taylor,  who  also  wrote  some 
of  the  descriptive  letterpress.  Ail  these  works  continue 
to  sell  largely  and  by  subscription  only.  Mr.  W.  W.  Apple- 
ton,  the  senior  member's  oldest  son,  became  a partner  in 
1868.  He  is  now  the  recognized  manager  of  the  firms 
large  business. 

Mr.  George  S.  Appleton  died  in  1878  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
seven,  and  in  his  death  I lost  a good  and  valued  friend. 
William  H.  Seward’s  Travels  around  the  World,  which  was 
secured  by  me  for  publication  by  D.  Appleton  & Co.,  had  I 
believe  the  largest  sale  of  any  book  of  travels  ever  published 
in  the  United  States  and  perhaps  in  Europe.  The  pub- 
lishers have  paid  the  estate  of  Mr.  Seward  more  than 
$50,000  of  copyright  on  the  sales  of  this  book. 

General  Sherman’s  Memoirs  written  by  himself  reached 
a sale  of  60,000  copies,  notwithstanding  the  General  would 
not  allow  it  sold  except  in  the  bookstores.  I personally 
undertook  to  explain  to  him  the  probable  increased  sale  of 
the  work  if  sold  by  canvassers  only,  but  the  General  said 
he  had  a horror  of  book  agents,  and  would  neither  patronize 
them  nor  have  his  book  sold  by  them.  I have  no  doubt 
the  sale  would  have  been  doubled  at  least  had  it  been  sold 
by  subscription  only.  I fear  the  General  was  never  cut  out 
for  a subscription  book-publisher. 

Webster’s  spelling-book  published  by  this  house  has  pro- 
bably had  a larger  sale  than  any  other  book  ever  published 
except  the  Bible.  More  than  fifty  million  copies  have  been 
sold,  and  the  sale  even  now  is  fully  a million  copies  per  year. 
They  are  distributed  mostly  in  the  Southern  States.  This 


D.  APPLETON  & CO. 


185 


book  is  fitted  to  the  comprehension  of  the  freedmen  in  the 
south  who  are  probably  attracted  a good  deal  by  the  blue 
coVers,  possibly  reminding  them  of  the  boys  in  blue  who 
freed  them. 

In  works  of  fiction  I believe  that  D.  Appleton  & Co. 
have  never  published  an  American  novel  which  has  made 
what  is  called  a decided  hit — in  other  words,  where  the  sale 
has  reached  tens  of  thousands. 

The  two  most  popular  novels  published  by  them  were 
Lothair  by  Disraeli,  and  Mme.  MuhlbaclTs  “Joseph  II. 
and  His  Court.”  The  contract  for  Lothair  was  made  by 
cable  at  an  expense  of  £250,  the  author  sending  an  advance 
copy  which  thus  forestalled  competing  publishers.  The 
fiim  hesitated  whether  to  print  one  or  two  thousand  copies. 
They  finally  settled  upon  printing  two  thousand,  and  what 
was  their  surprise  when  orders  came  pouring  in  until  the 
sale  had  reached  80,000  copies.  Disraeli  was  greatly 
pleased  with  the  success  and  wrote  a letter  of  thanks  to  the 
publishers  for  the  successful  way  it  was  brought  before  the 
American  public. 

Mme.  Muhlbach’s  novels  had  been  offered  to  almost 
every  publisher  in  New  York  and  refused.  The  year  the 
civil  war  closed,  Mr.  W.  W.  Appleton,  while  travelling  in 
the  south,  purchased  a copy  of  Joseph  II.  and  His  Court. 
It  was  translated  by  Mme.  A.  de  Chaudron,  a resident  of 
Mobile.  The  book  had  been  printed  and  published  there 
on  wretched  straw  paper,  and  copyrighted  in  the  Confeder- 
ate States.  Mr.  Appleton  was  greatly  interested  in  reading 
the  book,  and  on  returning  home  recommended  the  firm  to 
publish  it.  It  proved  to  be  a great  commercial  success,  and 
was  followed  up  by  succeeding  volumes  by  the  same  author, 
all  of  which  were  immensely  popular. 

There  were  two  marked  events  in  the  history  of  the 
publications  of  D.  Appleton  & Co.  The  first  occurred 
about  the  year  1840,  when  that  firm  began  to  publish  books 
of  what  was  called  the  Tractarian  School.  They  first 
issued  Tract  No.  90,  by  Rev.  Dr.  Pusey.  This  was  followed 


186 


D.  APPLETON  & CO. 


by  a large  number  of  volumes  by  Rev.  Drs.  Newman,  Man- 
ning, Maurice,  Palmer  and  others.  The  publication  of 
these  books  produced  great  excitement  in  the  religious 
world.  The  firm  were  induced  to  publish  them  by  Rev. 
Dr.  Whittingham,  then  professor  in  the  Theological  Semi- 
nary in  this  city.  They  were  fiercely  condemned  by  leading 
influential  Protestants  for  publishing  such  books,  believing 
that  they  had  a tendency  to  proselyte  to  the  Church  of 
Rome,  which,  indeed,  was  true  in  many  cases.  The  Rev. 
Dr.  Manning,  among  others,  became  a Roman  Catholic, 
and  is  now  an  English  cardinal  ; while  others,  influenced 
by  these  writers,  were  turned  from  the  Presbyterian  and 
other  orthodox  churches  to  the  Episcopal  Church,  which 
really  was  the  object  of  Dr.  Whittingham  in  recommending 
their  publication. 

The  other  event  referred  to  was  the  publication  of  books 
in  another  direction,  viz. : the  works  of  Darwin,  Spencer, 
Huxley,  Tyndall  and  others  of  that  class,  which  began  to 
attract  much  attention  from  the  Christian  world.  The 
religious  press  especially  warned  the  public  against  them. 
Mr.  William  H.  Appleton  informed  me  that  many  well- 
meaning,  influential  Christian  gentlemen  came  to  him  per- 
sonally and  entreated  him  not  to  publish  these  works.  A 
letter  was  addressed  to  him  by  Dr.  Whittingham,  who  had 
become  bishop  of  Maryland,  warning  him  that  for  publish- 
ing the  works  of  Darwin  and  others  he  would  be  punished 
in  this  world  and  in  the  world  to  come.  Mr.  Appleton 
wrote  him  in  reply,  asking  him  if  he  was  also  to  be  held 
responsible  for  the  effect  of  the  Pusey  books,  which  were 
published  under  his  (the  bishop's)  influence,  and  which  had 
turned  to  Rome  some  Protestants,  both  clergymen  and  lay- 
men, in  the  Episcopal  Church  in  our  own  country  as  well 
as  in  Europe.  Mr.  Appleton  took  the  ground,  and  very 
properly,  I think,  that  a publisher's  imprint  is  not  an  in- 
dorsement of  the  contents  of  the  book,  any  more  than  the 
editor  of  an  influential  paper  is  responsible  for  the  opinion 
of  a correspondent.  The  duty  of  a publisher  of  books 


D.  APPLETON  & CO. 


187 


clearly  involves  proper  watchfulness  that  nothing  immoral, 
improper  or  irreligious  should  appear  in  the  books  pub- 
lished, and  there  the  responsibility  ends.  Even  Darwin, 
who  gave  the  name  to  the  Darwinian  theory,  was  eulo- 
gized at  his  death  by  most  of  the  clergy,  and  was  buried 
by  the  English  Church  in  Westminster  Abbey,  where  his 
remains  now  lie.  And  yet,  strange  as  it  may  now  appear, 
the  firm  suffered  for  years  from  the  stigma  cast  upon  them 
for  having  published  Darwin’s  works. 

It  was  through  Professor  E.  L.  Youmans,  so  well  known 
in  the  scientific  world,  that  the  house  of  D.  Appleton  & Co. 
became  the  publishers  of  the  works  of  Spencer,  Tyndall, 
Huxley,  Darwin,  Lecky,  and  other  advanced  thinkers  who 
have  become  so  popular  in  this  country.  In  the  absence  of 
an  international  copyright  law  the  works  of  these  authors 
had  become  the  ready  prey  of  any  American  publisher  who 
thought  he  could  cover  expenses  and  make  a slight  profit 
by  their  publication.  While  other  foreign  writers  were  paid 
enormous  prices  for  books,  many  of  which  had  no  merit 
except  their  transient  popularity,  these  valuable  and  endur- 
ing works,  involving  the  toil  of  years,  were  stolen  with 
perfect  impunity.  Indignant  at  this  injustice,  and  confi- 
dent that  these  works  if  properly  presented  before  the  pub- 
lic would  have  a ready  sale,  Mr.  Youmans,  having  secured 
the  promise  of  D.  Appleton  & Co.  to  pay  for  them  the 
same  that  American  authors  received,  if  their  sale  would 
justify  it,  at  once  entered  into  a correspondence  with  some 
of  the  most  eminent  foreign  scientific  writers  to  secure  their 
books  for  publication  here.  In  carrying  out  these  negotia- 
tions he  made  no  less  than  six  trips  to  Europe  at  his  own 
expense,  and  in  order  to  make  these  works  known  and  fa- 
cilitate their  sale  he  devoted  much  time  to  the  writing  of 
critical  reviews.  The  success  which  attended  his  efforts  is 
well  known  to  the  literary  world.  The  publication  of  the 
works  of  Herbert  Spencer  and  other  scientists  by  the  Ap- 
pletons  gave  rise  to  a feeling  of  alarm  among  some  of  the 
Evangelical  people  as  to  their  skeptical  tendency,  and  some 


188 


D.  APPLETON  & CO. 


distinguished  writers  and  preachers  expostulated  with  the 
tirm  as  has  already  been  stated  for  lending  their  imprint 
to  such  supposed  infidel  books.  Although  the  members 
of  the  house  were  very  strong  church  people  they  felt  that 
they  were  not  injuring  the  cause  of  Christianity  by  letting 
the  world  know  what  these  scientific  thinkers  had  to  say. 
Prof.  Draper's  History  of  the  Conflict  of  Science  and  Re- 
ligion enjoys  the  distinction  of  having  been  anathematized 
by  the  Pope  and  translated  into  nearly  every  language  on 
the  face  of  the  earth. 

Professor  Youmans  has  always  been  an  enthusiastic 
supporter  of  any  efforts  to  popularize  science,  and  with  this 
end  in  view,  was  instrumental  in  establishing  Appleton’s 
Popular  Science  Monthly,  which  is  well  known  as  a journal 
devoted  to  scientific  information  for  the  people.  Of  this 
periodica]  Mr.  Youmans  has  continued  to  be  the  editor, 
assisted  by  his  brother  Dr.  W.  J.  Youmans  ; from  its  forma- 
tion to  the  present  day  it  has  been  a great  commercial  suc- 
cess. Professor  Youmans  has  still  farther  earned  the 
gratitude  of  learned  writers  by  his  success  in  organizing 
the  International  Scientific  Series,  which  by  voluntary 
agreements  secures  payment  to  authors  from  all  countries 
who  thus  reap  the  advantages  of  an  international  copyright 
law. 

The  latest  literary  success  is  McMaster’s  History  of 
the  People  of  the  United  States.  A short  time  since,  I 
said  to  Mr.  Appleton  that  I had  heard  that  the  book  had 
been  rejected  and  afterwards  accepted.  He  replied,  “ The 
author  sent  the  book  to  us  for  examination  and  it  was 
given  to  our  readers  who  did  not  report  favorably,  but  ex- 
pressed grave  doubts  of  its  success  if  published,  It  passed 
through  several  hands,  as  we  had  some  doubts  about  under- 
taking a new  history  of  the  United  States,  being  already 
the  publishers  of  Bancroft’s.  We  at  last  gave  it  to  a very 
distinguished  litterateur  and  he  denounced  it,  writing  an 
unfavorable  criticism  on  it.  After  this,  the  matter  was  dis- 
cussed somewhat  earnestly  all  around  and  I proposed  to  take 


D.  APPLETON  & CO. 


189 


the  manuscript  up  to  my  house  in  the  country.  It  so  hap- 
pened that  on  the  evening  when  I took  it  home  with  me, 
all  of  the  family  and  several  visitors,  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
were  engaged  in  reading.  After  reading  a portion  of  the 
MS.  I said,  * I should  like  very  much  if  you  would  let  me 
read  some  of  the  passages  from  this  book  ; I would  like 
your  opinion  of  them/  Mrs.  Appleton  said,  ‘Now  don’t 
do  any  such  thing  ; we  are  all  interested  in  our  books  and 
don’t  want  to  hear  you  read  from  a manuscript.’  Said  I, 
‘ Permit  me  for  one  moment.  If  I can’t  hold  your  atten- 
tion I’ll  give  up.’  They  all  assented,  the  family  especially. 
I began  to  read  and  kept  on  reading  ; not  a voice  was  heard 
but  my  own.  I read  on  for  over  two  hours,  when  it  was 
necessary  for  me  to  call  for  water  to  clear  my  throat.  They 
all  pronounced  it  the  most  remarkable  and  most  interesting 
book  they  had  ever  listened  to.  I continued  on  after  that, 
and  in  the  morning  put  it  under  my  arm,  brought  it  down 
to  the  city  and  said  to  the  firm,  ‘ We  will  publish  the 
book.  Find  out  where  the  author  is.’  He  appeared  in  a 
few  days,  and  proved  to  be  a Professor  of  Engineering  at 
Princeton.  The  book  was  finally  published  and  a large 
sale  was  almost  immediate.  I recollect  asking  Mr.  Charles 
A.  Dana  if  he  had  read  the  book,  as  I had  not  seen  any 
notice  of  it  in  his  paper.  ‘ Read  it  ! why,  I have  read 
nothing  else  since  I began  it !’” 

Space  will  not  allow  me  to  speak  of  the  large  number 
of  valuable  school-books  published  by  this  firm.  The  mam- 
moth factory  in  Williamsburg,  where  all  their  books  are 
manufactured,  employs  over  six  hundred  hands. 

William  Matthews,  who  has  been  for  so  many  years  at  the 
head  of  the  bindery,  is  the  author  of  the  interesting  article 
on  “ Book-binding”  in  the  American  Cyclopedia.  His 
reputation  as  master  binder  of  books  is  universal.  When 
booksellers  advertise  elegant  and  costly  books  and  state 
that  they  are  “ bound  by  Matthews  ” it  means  with  them 
the  perfection  of  book-binding. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  war,  when  Rev’d  J.  W. 


190 


D.  APPLETON  & CO. 


Beckwith  became  Bishop  of  Georgia,  Mr.  William  H. 
Appleton  (wiio  had  been  his  personal  friend  for  many 
years)  suggested  to  the  Bishop  that  he  would  like  to  com- 
memorate his  going  to  Georgia  by  building  for  him  an 
Orphan  Home  to  cost  ten  thousand  dollars.  Afterwards, 
however,  Mr.  Appleton,  with  the  Bishop's  hearty  concur- 
rence, determined  to  build  a Church  Home  for  orphan 
girls,  daughters  of  Confederate  soldiers.  It  was  to  be  built 
wherever  the  Bishop  fixed  his  episcopal  residence,  which 
was  finally  located  at  Macon,  Georgia.  The  contribution 
towards  the  building  was  $12,500,  with  a subsequent  endow- 
ment of  $10,000,  the  interest  of  which  goes  towards  the 
support  of  the  school.  The  young  orphans  are  taught  all 
kinds  of  house-work,  and  are  given  a plain  English  educa- 
tion. The  House  is  in  charge  of  deaconesses  of  the  Order 
of  St.  Katherine,  so  named  in  memory  of  Mr.  Appleton's 
eldest  daughter,  who  had  recently  died  in  China.  Over 
the  front  entrance  is  the  inscription  “ The  Appleton 
Church  Home." 

Mr.  Daniel  Appleton  was  admitted  as  a partner  in  1880* 
— his  father,  John  A.  Appleton,  died  on  the  13th  day  of 
July,  1881.  I had  known  him  for  forty-three  years  of  his 
business  life,  and  during  his  later  years,  I might  say  inti- 
mately. His  influence  upon  me  was  certainly  greater  than 
that  of  any  other  man  then  living,  and  in  his  death  I lost 
my  truest  friend.  He  was  revered  for  his  unostentatious 
piety,  and  noted  for  his  sterling  integrity  of  character.  In 
speaking  of  him  after  his  death,  his  brother  William  said 
tome,  “John  was  the  best  of  all  of  us  in  religion  and 
morality  ; he  could  not  help  being  a Christian."  One  who 
knew  him  well  writes  : “ There  were  several  points  in  Mr. 
Appleton’s  character  which  deserve  to  be  noted.  He  was 
first  of  all,  a devout,  consistent  Christian,  one  who  was 
neither  ashamed  nor  afraid  to  acknowledge  his  faith  and 

* His  brother  Edward  C.  Appleton  was  also  admitted  Jan.  1st, 
1884. 


D.  APPLETON  & CO. 


191 


trust  in  his  Saviour,  and  one  who  strove  to  remember 
always  that  he  was  a steward  of  God,  placed  in  charge  of 
large  means  and  opportunities  for  promoting  the  spread  of 
the  Gospel  and  the  happiness  of  his  fellow  men  And  he 
continued  steadfast  in  this  faith,  and,  when  the  summons 
came,  he  laid  down  the  burden  of  life  with  firm,  unwaver- 
ing confidence  in  the  mercy  of  our  Heavenly  Father  in  and 
through  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."  He  was  for  many  years 
senior  warden  of  St.  John's  Church  Clifton,  and  was  one 
of  its  largest  benefactors.  It  may,  indeed,  be  called  his 
monument.  A mural  tablet  has  been  erected  in  the  church 
of  his  affections,  commemorating  his  quiet  life  of  faith  and 
service  as  a Christian.  It  was  given  by  the  members  of 
the  church,  his  friends,  and  the  employees  in  his  busi- 
ness. 

In  admirable  keeping  with  this  inner  life  of  faith  Mr. 
Appleton  always  proved  himself  to  be  a gentleman  of  the 
truest  type.  He  was  uniformly  courteous  and  considerate 
toward  others,  never  wounding  the  feelings  of  any  one, 
however  obscure  or  lowly  his  lot,  and  always  ready  with  a 
pleasant  word  and  kindly  act.  Though  of  a rather  nervous 
temperament,  and  disliking  everything  of  the  nature  of 
parade  or  show,  he  was  fond  of  congenial  society,  and  took 
delight  in  dispensing  cordial  and  unostentatious  hospital- 
ity at  his  beautiful  residence  on  Staten  Island.  He  was  a 
lover  of  home  and  home  pleasures,  and,  as  he  had  been 
specially  favored  and  happy  in  his  marriage,  he  made  his 
home  the  central  point  of  quiet  and  peaceful  enjoy- 
ment. 

As  a business  man  Mr.  Appleton  was  deservedly  esteem- 
ed, and  an  honor  to  the  name.  He  took  his  full  share  in 
upholding  the  high  reputation  which  the  house  of  D. 
Appleton  & Co.  has  always  sustained  for  integrity  and  fair- 
ness in  their  vast  business  transactions. 

In  the  costly  and  beautiful  church  edifice  which  I have 
mentioned  the  following  inscription  is  recorded  : 


192 


D.  APPLETON  & CO, 


THIS  TABLET 

IS  ERECTED  CONJOINTLY  BY  THE  MEMBERS  OF 

st.  John’s  church  and  the  friends,  attaches, 

AND  EMPLOYES  OF  THE  FIRM  OF 

D.  APPLETON  & CO.,  NEW  YORK, 

TO  COMMEMORATE 

AND  KEEP  IN  GRATEFUL  REMEMBRANCE 

THE  LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF 

JOHN  ADAMS  APPLETON 

FOR  MANY  YEARS  A WARDEN  OF  THIS  CHURCH 
AND  AN  UNTIRING  FRIEND  AND 

PATRON  OF  EVERY  GOOD  AND  RIGHTEOUS  CAUSE. 

HE  WAS  BORN  AT  BOSTON,  MASS.,  JANY.  9TH,  1817, 

DIED  AT  HIS  COUNTRY  SEAT,  RAVENNA,  STATEN  ISLAND, 

JULY  13th,  1881. 


“ Mark  the  “perfect  man  anil  observe  the  upright  for  the  end  of  that 
man  is  peace.'1'1 


VIII. 


GEORGE  RIPLEY  AND  CHARLES  A.  DANA. 

Mr.  Dana  suggests  a new  Cyclopedia — Becomes , with 
George  Ripley,  Editor  in  chief — “ A walking  Cyclo- 
pedia ” — The  American  Cyclopedia  illustrated — Quar- 
ter of  a million  dollars  copyright — Literary  Editor 
of  the  Tribune — Death  of  Mr.  Ripley — Only  Poem 
ever  written  by  him — Mr.  Dana  Assistant  Secretary 
of  War — Return  to  Journalism — Purchases  the  Mew 
York  Sun — Dana's  Household  Book  of  Poetry — £<  The 
Sun  which  shines  for  all." 

rpHE  greatest  literary  enterprise  ever  undertaken  and 
*•  accomplished  in  America,  is  undoubtedly  the  Ameri- 
can Cyclopedia,  which  is  referred  to  in  a sketch  of  the  pub- 
lishers elsewhere.  Rev.  0.  B.  Frothingham,  in  his  “ Life 
of  George  Ripley,”  says,  “ That  the  project  of  such  a work 
was  conceived  by  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Hawks.”  This  is  incor- 
rect, as  shown  by  the  supplementary  volume  of  the  Cyclo- 
pedia published  since  Dr.  Ripley’s  death.  The  New  Ameri- 
can Cyclopedia  in  fact,  was  first  suggested  to  Mr,  William 
H.  Appleton  by  Charles  K.  Dana  while  they  were  attend- 
ing the  celebration  of  the  opening  of  the  Chicago  and  Rock 
Island  Railroad  in  the  year  1855. 

Five  large  steamboats  were  filled  by  prominent  capital- 
ists and  other  excursionists  on  that  occasion.  The  event 
was  considered  sufficiently  important  for  Mr.  Appleton  to 
propose  to  Mr.  Dana  to  write  a full  account  of  the  alfair 
for  publication,  with  suitable  illustrations. 

Mr.  Dana  then  said  to  Mr.  Appleton,  “The  best  thing 
9 [193] 


194  GEORGE  RIPLEY  AND  CHARLES  A.  DANA. 

for  you  to  do,  is  to  publish  instead  a Cyclopedia,  as  ‘ Dr. 
Francis  LiebeFs  Encyclopedia  Americana'is  out  of  date, 
and  there  is  a great  need  of  a good  American  Cyclopedia  to 
be  completed  in  fifteen  or  sixteen  volumes.”  Mr.  Appleton 
told  Mr.  Dana  he  would  consider  the  matter,  but  nothing 
more  came  of  it  until  the  year  following,  when  Mr.  Dana 
called  on  Mr.  Appleton  and  repeated  what  he  had  said 
before,  adding,  that  he  was  ready  to  undertake  the  editor- 
ship of  such  a work. 

The  firm  of  D.  Appleton  & Co.,  then  concluded  an  ar- 
rangement with  Mr.  Dana,  by  which  they  agreed  to  pay 
him  a royalty  of  twelve  and  one-half  cents  on  each  volume 
or  two  dollars  the  set,  in  consideration  of  his  editing  the 
work.  After  this  agreement  was  consummated  Mr.  Dana 
went  to  Mr.  George  Ripley,  who  at  that  time  was  an  asso- 
ciate editor  on  The  New  York  Tribune,  and  proposed  that 
he  should  unite  as  co-editor  and  share  with  him  equally 
the  labors  and  profits  of  the  enterprise. 

Dr.  Ripley  very  readily  accepted  this  proposition,  and 
thus  was  formed  the  partnership  of  the  editors  in  chief  of 
the  New  American  Cyclopedia.  They  immediately  associ- 
ated with  them  the  ablest  assistants  in  every  department  of 
literature  obtainable. 

Mr.  Ripley  applied  himself  more  diligently,  perhaps,  in 
directing  the  progress  of  the  work,  in  consideration  cf 
which,  he  was  paid  an  additional  sum  by  the  publishers. 
Mr.  Dana,  however,  probably  wrote  more  articles  than  his 
coadjutor. 

Both  were  ripe  scholars,  familiar  with  several  languages 
and  all  cyclopedias.  Probably  there  could  not  have  been 
selected  two  men  so  eminently  fitted  for  the  work.  Their 
corps  of  associate  and  assistant  editors  were  men  of  mark 
in  the  various  departments  of  literature.  Among  others 
may  be  named  the  late  Robert  Carter,  also  Michael  Heil- 
prin,  J.  R.  G.  Hassard  and  Francis  A.  Teal. 

Horace  Greeley  once  said  that  the  article  “United 
States,”  written  by  Robert  Carter  for  the  Cyclopedia,  was 


GEORGE  RIPLEY  AND  CHARLES  A.  DANA.  195 


the  ablest  presentation  of  that  subject  he  had  ever  read. 
Mr.  Heilprin  was  called  the  “ Walking  Cyclopedia”  of  the 
staff;  his  erudition  in  matters  relating  to  history,  geogra- 
phy and  philosophy  was  astonishing,  even  to  the  minutest 
details.  He  is  probably  to-day  one  of  the  best  Hebrew 
scholars  in  the  world.  He  is  at  home  as  well  in  other  Ori- 
ental tongues,  writing  and  speaking  no  less  than  twelve  of 
these  languages. 

Francis  A.  Teal  is  another  remarkable  man.  He  is  a 
practical  proof-reader  and  a grammarian  who  well  under- 
stands the  proper  construction  of  sentences  as  well  as  an 
adept  in  orthography.  Think  of  one  man  reading  every 
page,  indeed  every  line  in  both  editions  of  the  cyclopedia, 
even  to  the  punctuation  ! Mr.  Hassard  is  and  has  been 
connected  with  the  New  York  Tribune  ever  since  the  cyclo- 
pedia was  projected  and  wrote  perhaps  as  large  a number 
of  articles  as  any  other  contributor,  on  subjects  on  which 
he  was  well  informed. 

In  1869  a revised  edition  of  the  cyclopedia  was  com- 
menced by  the  same  editors,  the  title  being  modified  by 
omitting  the  word  “ New.”  The  American  Cyclopedia 
was  completed  in  1873.  Among  the  revisers  were  Willard 
Bartlett,  recently  elected  judge  of  Supreme  Court,  Edward 
L.  Burlingame,  now  connected  with  C.  Scribner's  Sons, 
Hon.  T.  M.  Cooley,  LL.D.,  Prof.  John  C.  Dalton,  Eaton  S. 
Drone,  Prof.  Austin  Flint,  Prof.  T.  Stery  Hunt,  Prof.  Chas. 
A.  Joy,  Prof.  J.  A.  Spencer,  Richard  A.  Proctor,  Alfred 
H.  Guernsey,  John  G.  Shea,  LL.D.,  I.  D.  Veitelle,  A.M., 
Rev.  Bernard  O'Reilly,  D.D.,  Prof.  T.  J.  Conant,  who  sub- 
sequently prepared  a complete  index  to  the  sixteen  volumes, 
and  John  D.  Champlin,  Jr.,  who  had  the  editorship  of 
over  six  thousand  maps  and  illustrations,  which  appeared 
for  the  first  time  in  this  edition. 

To  Prof.  Conant,  the  eminent  Hebrew  scholar,  was 
submitted  all  the  articles  on  theology  and  the  different  re- 
ligions for  verification. 

The  publishers  have  already  paid  a royalty  of  more  than 


196  GEORGE  RIPLEY  AND  CHARLES  A.  DANA. 


one  hundred  thousand  dollars  each  to  Mr.  Dana  and  Mr. 
Ripley  and  the  latter’s  estate. 

Mr.  Ripley  was  first  prominently  known  in  the  literary 
world  by  the  publication  of  “ Specimens  of  Foreign  Litera- 
ture,” in  fourteen  volumes.  They  were  known  to  book- 
sellers in  1840  as  “Ripley's  Foreign  Classics.” 

I first  became  acquainted  with  Dr.  Ripley  soon  after 
his  connection  with  the  New  York  Tribune  in  the  capacity 
of  literary  critic,  in  the  year  1849,  a department  in  journal- 
ism created  by  him  and  which  post  he  held  with  such  con- 
summate ability  to  the  day  of  his  death. 

Soon  after  my  removal  to  New  York,  in  1853,  I engaged 
Dr.  Ripley,  on  a stipulated  salary,  to  become  a reader  of 
MSS.  submitted  to  me  for  publication.  His  critical  judg- 
ment was  most  excellent,  and  I generally  accepted  for  pub- 
lication such  books  as  he  recommended.  Curious  enough, 
the  amount  paid  him  was  the  same  that  he  received  annu- 
ally from  the  Tribune  for  services  five  years  previous. 
The  following  verses,  which  appeared  in  the  Christian 
Examiner  in  May,  1847,  are  the  only  lines,  so  far  as  is 
known,  he  ever  wrote  : 

“ THE  ANGELS  OF  THE  PAST.” 

44  My  buried  days! — in  bitter  tears 
I sit  beside  your  tomb, 

And  ghostly  forms  of  vanished  years 
Flit  through  my  spirit’s  gloom. 

44  In  throngs  around  my  soul  they  press, 

They  fill  my  dreamy  sight 
With  visions  of  past  loveliness, 

And  shapes  of  lost  delight. 

44  Like  Angels  of  the  Lord  they  move 
Each  on  his  mystic  way, — 

These  blessed  messengers  of  love, 

These  heralds  of  the  day. 


GEORGE  RIPLEY  AND  CHARLES  A.  DANA.  197 


“ And  as  they  pass,  the  conscious  air 
Is  stirred  to  music  round, 

And  verily  a murmur  of  harmonious  prayer 
Is  breathed  along  the  ground. 

“ And  sorrow  dies  from  out  my  heart, 

In  exhalations  sweet, 

And  the  bands  of  life  which  she  did  part 
In  blessed  union  meet. 

“ The  past  and  future  o’er  my  head 
Their  sacred  grasp  entwine, 

And  the  eyes  of  all  the  holy  dead 
Around,  before  me  shine. 

“ And  I rise  to  life  and  duty, 

From  nights  of  fear  and  death, 

With  a deeper  sense  of  beauty, 

And  fuller  strength  of  faith.” 

The  following,  which  were  found  among  his  papers, 
copied  in  his  own  handwriting,  will  illustrate  the  nature 
and  character  of  the  man  : 

“ My  days  among  the  dead  are  past; 

Around  me  I behold 
Where  e’er  these  casual  eyes  are  cast, 

The  mighty  minds  of  old. 

My  never-failing  friends  are  they, 

With  whom  I converse  day  by  day. 

♦ 

“ My  hopes  are  with  the  dead;  anon 
My  place  with  them  will  be, 

And  I with  them  shall  travel  on 
Through  all  futurity; 

Yet  leaving  here  a name  I trust, 

That  shall  not  perish  in  the  dust.” 

After  Mr.  Dana  left  the  Tribune  he  became  for  two  years 
the  Assistant  Secretary  of  War  under  Secretary  Stanton, 
where  he  did  good  and  effective  service  in  his  official  capa- 


198  GEORGE  RIPLEY  AND  CHARLES  A.  DANA. 

city  while  with  the  advance  lines  of  the  army,  securing 
thereby  the  approbation  of  President  Lincoln  and  the  War 
Department. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  journalism, 
and,  assisted  by  some  prominent  capitalists,  purchased  the 
New  York  Sun,  for  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  thousand  dollars.  The  paper  at  that  time  was  not  in 
a flourishing  condition.  Mr.  Dana’s  scholarship  and  great 
administrative  capacity,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  I.  W. 
England’s  well  known  executive  ability,  has  made  this 
journal,  with  a daily  circulation  of  considerably  over  one 
hundred  thousand,  not  only  a power  among  the  people,  but 
a source  of  great  profit  to  the  editor-in-chief,  whose  last 
achievement,  recently  announced  in  his  paper,  is  the  en- 
gagement of  each  of  the  foremost  writers  of  fiction,  Henry 
James,  W.  D.  Howells  and  Bret  Harte,  to  write  a novelette, 
soon  to  appear  in  the  Sunday  edition  of  the  Sun , in  which 
paper  Mr.  Dana  makes  a specialty  of  literary  matters. 

The  elaborate  reviews  of  Mr.  M.  W.  Hazeltine  in  that 
issue  are  of  such  marked  ability  that  they  have  recently 
been  published  in  book  form  by  Charles  Scribner’s  Sons. 

In  1856,  Mr.  Dana  collected  and  edited  a volume  of 
“Household  Poetry,”  which  has  passed  through  numerous 
editions.  It  is  highly  commended  by  Mr.  Bryant  and  Mr. 
Whittier,  both  of  whom  have  edited  similar  volumes  of 
Anthology.  The  tollowing  preface  indicates  the  scope  and 
character  of  the  book. 

“ The  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  comprise  within  the 
bounds  of  a single  volume,  whatever  is  truly  beautiful  and 
admirable  among  the  minor  poems  of  the  English  language. 
In  executing  this  design,  it  has  been  the  constant  endeavor 
of  the  editor  to  exercise  a catholic  as  well  as  severe  taste, 
and  to  judge  every  piece  by  its  poetical  merit  only,  without 
regard  to  name,  nationality  or  epoch  of  its  author.  Espec- 
ial care  has  also  been  taken  to  give  every  poem  entire  and 
un mutilated,  as  well  as  in  the  most  authentic  form  which 
could  be  procured  ; although  the  earliest  edition  of  an 


GEORGE  RIPLEY  AND  CHARLES  A.  DANA.  199 


author  lias  sometimes  been  preferred  to  a later  one  in 
which  the  alterations  have  not  always  seemed  to  be  improve- 
ments. 

“ The  arrangement  of  the  book  will  be  seen  to  be  some- 
what novel,  but  it  is  hoped  that  it  may  be  found  convenient 
to  the  reader  and  not  altogether  devoid  of  aesthetic  con- 
gruity.  The  editor  flatters  himself  that  in  classifying  so 
many  immortal  productions  of  genius  according  to  their 
own  ideas  and  motives,  rather  than  according  to  their 
chronology,  the  nativity  and  sex  of  their  authors  or  any 
other  merely  external  order,  he  has  exhibited  the  incom- 
parable richness  of  our  language  in  this  department  of 
literature,  quite  as  successfully  as  if  he  had  followed  a 
method  more  usual  in  such  collections. 

That  every  reader  should  find  in  these  pages,  every  one 
of  his  favorite  poems,  is,  perhaps  too  much  to  expect ; but 
it  is  believed  that  of  those  on  which  the  unanimous  verdict 
of  the  intelligent  has  set  the  seal  of  indisputable  greatness, 
none,  whether  of  English,  Scotch,  Irish  or  American  origin, 
will  be  found  wanting.  At  the  same  time,  careful  and  pro- 
longed research,  especially  among  the  writers  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  and  in  the  current  receptacles  of  fugitive 
poetry,  has  developed  a considerable  store  of  treasures 
hitherto  less  known  to  the  general  public  than  to  scholars 
and  limited  circles.  Of  these  a due  use  has  been  made  in 
the  confident  belief  that  they  will  not  be  deemed  unworthy 
of  a place  with  their  more  illustrious  companions  in  a book 
which  aspires  to  become  the  familiar  friend  and  companion 
of  every  household.” 

John  G-.  Whittier,  in  his  “ Songs  of  Three  Centuries” 
says,  “Dana’s  Household  Book  of  Poetry  is  no  misnomer,” 
and  in  his  opinion  able  critics  coincide. 

Mr.  Dana  has  the  ability,  but  neither  time  nor  taste  to 
write  books ; he  much  prefers  to  illuminate  the  minds  of 
the  people  through  the  medium  of  the  “ Sun  which  shines 
for  all.” 


IX. 


ROBERT  BONNER. 

Founding  the  Ledger — A Million  Dollars  Paid  for  Ad- 
vertising— His  Country  Seat  for  Sale , Mosquitos, 
Fever  and  Ague  included — His  Pluck  and  Persistency 
Captures  Fanny  Fern — Brilliant  List  of  Contribu- 
tors— Pays  Henry  Ward  Beecher  $30,000  for  writing 
“ Norwood  " — Fanny  Ferns'  Child  and  Grandchild 
Contributors — Bonner's  Liberality  to  Authors — His 
Hovel  Way  of  Advertising — The  Ledger  Captures 
Fletcher  Harper' s Children — Bonner's  Two  Mottoes — 
His  Test  of  Authors  by  their  MS. — Why  he  Drives 
Fast  Horses — Generous  Aid  to  Mr.  Beecher. 

TN  the  year  1851,  Mr.  Robert  Bonner  became  owner  of 
the  Merchants’  Ledger , a paper  mostly  devoted  to  com- 
mercial interests,  a portion,  however,  being  made  up  of 
stories  and  poetry  for  the  family.  It  had  not,  at  that  time, 
a large  circulation,  but  was  supported  mainly  by  advertising 
patronage.  On  Mr.  Bonner's  assuming  control  of  the 
paper,  his  ingenious  method  of  advertising,  which  was 
entirely  novel  in  those  days,  immediately  began  to  attract 
attention,  but  notwithstanding  this  faculty  of  his,  he  soon 
decided  to  make  it  exclusively  a family  story  paper  under 
the  name  of  the  New  York  Ledger , and  gave  notice  to  each 
advertiser  as  his  contract  expired  of  his  intended  purpose. 
I was  one  of  the  last  to  go,  and  wondered  at  the  time,  how 
he  could  expect  to  make  money  without  the  advertising 
1200] 


ROBERT  BONNER. 


201 


patronage  which  is  usually  necessary  to  sustain  any  paper  ; 
but  Bobert  Bonner  knew  what  he  was  about.  From  the 
first  issue  of  the  New  York  Ledger , March  1856,  until  the 
present  time,  Mr.  Bonner  has  never  admitted  to  its  columns 
a single  advertisement  of  any  kind,  although  he  became  the 
most  famous  advertiser  in  America.  The  display  of  adver- 
tisements in  the  different  periodicals  became  the  wonder  of 
thousands  of  readers,  and  made  the  Ledger  the  best  known 
paper  published.  He  has  paid  alone  to  the  Newspaper 
Advertising  Agency  of  8.  M.  Pettingill  & Company,  about 
a million  of  dollars  for  advertising  the  New  York  Ledger. 

In  stating  that  Mr.  Bonner  admitted  no  advertisements 
in  the  columns  of  the  New  York  Ledger , I should,  perhaps, 
make  an  exception  of  the  following,  taken  from  the  New 
York  Sun,  of  September  18,  1877,  which  was  also  copied 
in  the  Ledger.  It  attracted  a great  deal  of  attention  at  the 
time,  it  being  strikingly  characteristic  of  the  honesty  and 
quiet  humor  of  its  author  : 

“AN  HONEST  ADVERTISEMENT. 

“The  Board  of  Health  have  just  divulged  the  following  adver- 
tisement of  Mr.  Bonner’s  country  place  in  Westchester  County, 
prepared  by  him  and  intended  to  be  published  last  autumn,  but 
withheld  at  the  solicitation  of  his  neighbors,  who  were  afraid  it 
might  injure  the  value  of  property  there.  It  was  elicited  by  the 
Board  of  Health,  in  their  official  investigation  of  the  ice-pond 
matter  at  West  Morrisania,  and  is  a part  of  the  evidence  in  that 
case  : 

“A  Country  Seat  for  Sale  where  there  is  Fever  and 
Ague. — I hereby  offer  for  sale,  my  country  residence,  at  West 
Morrisania,  near  Melrose  Station,  where  I have  lived  for  the  past 
three  summers,  but  do  not  think  I could  live  much  longer.  I have 
heard  that  people  looking  for  a place  to  purchase,  could  never  lind 
one  where  they  have  chills  and  fever  —they  always  have  it  about  a 
mile,  a mile  and  a half  or  two  miles  off,  but  never  right  there,  at 
the  place  that  is  for  sale.  Now  I offer  for  sale  a curiosity,  some- 
thing rare,  the  precise,  exact  spot  where  the  fever  and  ague  is.  I 
will  warrant  it  to  be  there.  Three  of  my  children  have  it;  my 
gardener  has  it;  my  groom  has  the  sure  premonitory  symptoms 


202 


ROBERT  BONNER. 


and  I have  a sufficient  inkling  of  it  myself.  Any  doctor,  with  a 
large  family,  who  has  a specific  for  fever  and  ague,  would  find 
this  a most  eligible  situation ; the  neighborhood  is  full  of  the 
disease,  and  if  he  could  keep  it  out  of  his  own  family,  it  would 
give  him  a reputation  which  would  insure  his  fortune.  Besides 
the  fever  and  ague,  the  estate  consists  of  a fine  double  house,  with 
all  modern  conveniences  and  improvements,  such  as  hot  and  cold 
water,  furnace,  range,  <&c.,  and  about  two  acres  of  land,  with  a 
pretty  fair  barn  and  some  good  box  stalls  for  good  horses.  It  is 
really  a beautiful  place.  The  grounds  are  handsomely  laid  out, 
and  covered  with  trees  and  shrubbery  of  the  choicest  kind.  These 
trees  afford  not  only  a delightful  shade,  but  a nice  harbor  for 
mosquitoes.  The  mosquitoes  thus  far  have  not  been  so  much 
affected  by  the  fever  and  ague  as  to  prevent  their  biting.  In  fact 
it  is  a good  place  for  mosquitoes.  I bought  it  to  please  my  wife, 
and  shall  leave  it  to  please  my  whole  family.  Terms:  cash.  I am 
afraid  any  security  on  it  would  get  the  fever  and  ague,  and  become 
shaky.  Those  wishing  to  purchase  will  please  apply  immediately. 
I want  to  get  away  from  it  as  fast  as  Dexter  can  carry  me. 

“ Robert  Bonner. 

“ Ledger  Office,  90  Beekman  Street,  Sept.  18,  1877. 

“ P.  S. — The  town  authorities  have  begun  to  make  alterations 
in  the  street  adjoining,  and  if  they  drain  the  place  as  well  as  they 
do  the  pockets  of  the  landholders,  it  may  become  healthy.” 

The  Editor  of  the  Sun  in  printing  the  preceding  says  : 
“We  usually  charge  a pretty  handsome  price  for  the  in- 
sertion of  advertisements  ; but  if  Mr.  Bonner  has  any  more 
like  this  we  will  agree  to  pay  full  Ledger  rates  for  the  privi- 
lege of  publishing  them/’ 

Derby  & Miller  had  recently  published  a very  popular 
volume  by  Fanny  Fern  entitled  Fern  Leaves  from  Fanny’s 
Portfolio.  This  book  as  I have  said  elsewhere,  became 
immensely  popular  and  was  all  the  rage  among  the  book- 
buying public.  Mr.  Bonner  decided  to  secure  a story  from 
that  popular  authoress,  if  possible.  His  first  offer  to  her 
was  twenty-five  dollars  a column  for  a story.  She  declined 
this  offer,  when  he  made  a second  offer  of  fifty  dollars  a 
column.  This  offer  failed  to  tempt  her.  He  was  still  un- 
daunted, and  proposed  seventy-five  dollars  a column,  but 


ROBERT  BONNER. 


203 


with  the  same  results;  the  last  offer  was  increased,  and 
Fanny  Fern,  greatly  admiring  the  pluck  and  persistency  of 
the  proprietor  of  the  Ledger , finally  concluded  to  write  for 
him. 

Mr.  Bonner  without  having  read  a line  of  the  story, 
which  was  entitled,  “ Fanny  Ford,”  and  made  a little 
over  ten  columns,  handed  the  authoress  a check  for  one 
thousand  dollars.  This  sum  was  a greater  amount  to  him 
at  that  time  than  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  would  have 
been  a few  years  later.  The  Ledger  soon  became  famous  ; 
Fanny  Fern  was  secured  as  a regular  contributor,  and  up 
to  the  day  'of  her  death,  her  weekly  contributions  were 
eagerly  looked  for  by  thousands  of  readers  throughout  the 
civilized  world. 

Mr.  Bonner  soon  secured  as  contributors  to  the  columns 
of  the  Ledger,  many  of  the  most  famous  writers  of  the  day. 
Among  others,  may  be  mentioned  Edward  Everett,  to 
whom  he  paid  ten  thousand  dollars  for  the  Mount  Vernon 
papers  ; George  Bancroft,  Horace  Greeley,  William  Cullen 
Bryant,  George  D.  Prentice,  Alice  and  Phoebe  Cary,  John 
G.  Saxe,  Henry  W.  Longfellow,  Alfred  Tennyson,  Charles 
Dickens,  N.  P.  Willis,  James  Parton  and  the  presidents  of 
the  twelve  leading  colleges  in  this  country.  The  prices 
Mr.  Bonner  has  paid  for  the  contributions  accepted  by  him 
have  been  liberal  in  the  extreme.  The  largest  amount  paid 
to  any  writer  was  the  sum  of  thirty  thousand  dollars, 
which  Henry  Ward  Beecher  received  for  his  novel  of  “ Nor- 
wood.” He  also  paid  Charles  Dickens  the  sum  of  five 
thousand  dollars  for  the  story  “Hunted  Down,” which  the 
latter  wrote  expressly  for  the  New  York  Ledger,  and  which 
was  completed  in  three  numbers  of  that  paper. 

Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  has  contributed  fifteen  sketches 
to  the  Ledger  to  which  her  name  does  not  appear,  but  for 
which  she  was  paid  liberally.  Fanny  Fern’s  daughter, 
Grace,  who  married  Mortimer  Thompson,  generally  known 
as  the  author  of  “ Does^icks,”  was  a contributor  to  the 
Ledger  for  some  time  before  her  death,  and  now  her 


204 


ROBERT  BONNER. 


daughter,  a young  lady  of  twenty  years  of  age  (Fanny 
Fern's  grandchild),  is  a regular  contributor  to  the  same 
paper.  Thus  three  generations  of  this  talented  family 
have  contributed  to  the  New  York  Ledger. 

Mr.  Bonner  has  always  displayed  a whole-souled  liber- 
ality in  dealing  with  authors,  as  well  as  a 44  happy  faculty  " 
as  Alice  Cary  once  said,  “ of  gathering  together  not  only 
the  best  writers  in  the  varied  departments  of  literature, 
but  of  holding  them  together  as  one  family." 

The  success  of  the  New  York  Ledger  is  undoubtedly 
due  to  the  far-sighted  sagacity  of  its  projector  and  proprie- 
tor, his  untiring  energy  and  his  novel  method  of  advertis- 
ing. He  would  sometimes  secure  a whole  page  or  more  in 
our  leading  daily  papers  on  which  nothing  was  printed 
except  three  or  four  lines,  recommending  the  public  to  read 
Mrs.  Southworth's  new  story,  or  that  of  some  other  writer 
whose  story  was  to  begin  in  the  Ledger.  He  was  also  the 
founder  of  the  now  quite  common  plan  of  publishing  as  an 
advertisement,  several  chapters  of  some  story  which  ended 
abruptly  by  the  statement  that  the  rest  of  the  story  could 
be  found  in  a certain  number  of  the  New  York  Ledger , 
which  of  course  the  interested  reader  had  to  buy  and  con- 
tinue to  buy  until  the  story  was  finished. 

The  late  Fletcher  Harper,  at  whose  instance  Harper’s 
Weekly  was  established,  once  told  Sinclair  Tousey,  now  the 
President  of  the  American  News  Company,  that  he  had  to 
bring  the  Ledger  home  to  keep  peace  in  the  family — the 
beginning  of  one  of  these  continued  stories  having  been 
inserted  as  an  advertisement  in  the  very  first  number  of 
Harper’s  Weekly. 

Mr.  Bonner  is  a self-made  man  in  every  sense  of  the 
word.  He  began  life  as  an  apprentice  to  the  printer's 
trade  in  the  office  of  the  Hartford  Courant , from  whence 
he  removed  to  New  York  in  1844,  to  accept  a position  as 
assistant  foreman  and  proof-reader  on  The  New  York 
Evening  Mirror.  The  earnings  which  he  managed  to  save 
while  thus  employed  and  as  a correspondent  were  expended 


ROBERT  BONNER. 


205 


in  buying  The  Merchants'  Ledger , which  became  finally 
The  New  York  Ledger. 

The  self-reliance  and  honesty  which  characterized  him 
in  his  early  years,  has  been  strictly  adhered  to  throughout 
his  long  and  useful  career.  He  has  never  given  an  obliga- 
tion for  money  and  never  borrowed  or  owed  a dollar.  He 
has  two  mottoes,  which  have  guided  him  in  his  business 
life  ; one  of  which  is  from  St.  Paul,  “Owe  no  man  any- 
thing.” The  other,  from  John  Randolph,  “ Pay  as 
you  go.” 

Mr.  Bonner  was  at  one  time  the  New  York  correspond- 
ent of  The  Hartford  Courant , and  his  letters  attracted 
much  attention  by  their  crisp  statements  of  facts  and  lively 
discussions  of  the  topics  of  the  times.  Nothing  appears  in 
the  editorial  columns  of  The  Ledger  which  does  not  receive 
his  watchful  attention.  His  ready,  and  in  most  instances, 
correct  judgment  as  to  the  merits  of  an  author,  are  well 
known.  In  a recent  conversation  with  him,  in  which  I 
spoke  of  the  advisibility  of  using  type-writing  for  the  copy 
of  authors’  manuscripts,  he  said  to  me,  “Oh,  pshaw,  I 
don’t  like  type-writing  ; I would  rather  see  the  hand- writ- 
ing of  the  author,  as  I judge  by  that,  as  well  as  the  con- 
struction of  the  sentences,  whether  the  author  has  any 
brains  or  not.” 

“ Well,  what  about  Horace  Greeley’s  hand-writing,  how 
would  you  judge  him  ?”  said  I.  He  replied,  “ Brains.” 

Mr.  Bonner  is  a liberal  contributor  to  the  church,  sub- 
scribing at  one  time  towards  the  erection  of  Rev.  Dr.  John 
Hall's  church  the  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

It  is  pretty  generally  known  that  Mr.  Bonner  has  the 
largest  and  most  valuable  collection  of  trotting  horses  of 
any  individual  in  this  country.  Among  those  best  known 
are  the  horses  Dexter,  Rarus,  Edwin  Forest  and  the  mare 
Pocahontas.  The  question  has  often  been  asked,  why  Mr. 
Bonner  has  invested  so  much  money  in  horse-flesh.  As  I 
happen  to  know,  he  originally  did  so  by  thy  advice  of  his 
physician,  who  recommended  driving  as  a cure  for  his 


206 


ROBERT  BONNER. 


over-worked  body  and  brain.  Mr.  Bonner,  being  naturally 
a great  lover  of  horses,  readily  took  his  physician’s  advice, 
and  once  in  the  harness,  so  to  speak,  his  ambition  to  excel 
in  the  speed  of  his  horses  was  only  equalled  by  that  which 
he  had  displayed  in  making  the  most  successful  family 
paper  known. 

His  first  purchase  happened  in  this  wise  : The  Hon. 
Alexander  H.  Rice,  then  Mayor  of  Boston,  afterwards 
member  of  Congress  and  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  dur- 
ing a business  call  on  Mr.  Bonner  at  his  oflice  in  New 
York,  mentioned  the  fact  of  a span  of  horses  which  were 
considered  the  fastest  then  known  in  New  England.  Mr. 
Bonner’s  ambition  was  at  once  aroused  and  he  authorized 
Mr.  Rice  to  purchase  the  team  for  him.  This  was  the  be- 
ginning of  the-  formation  of  his  famous  stud.  By  a subse- 
quent purchase,  he  secured  the  horses  Lantern  and  Light, 
behind  which  I had  the  pleasure  of  a drive  with  their 
owner  one  day  to  a dinner  given  to  some  friends  at  Yonk- 
ers by  the  author  of  Sparrowgrass  Papers.  The  distance  of 
fifteen  miles  was  done  in  less  than  one  hour  without  much 
effort  on  a heavy  road. 

Mr.  Bonner  now  has  a large  number  of  horses  which  he 
values  at  not  less  than  a quarter  of  a million  of  dollars. 
He  paid  for  Dexter  thirty-five  thousand  dollars,  for  Rarus 
thirty-six  thousand  dollars,  and  for  Pocahontas  forty 
thousand  dollars. 

The  time  made  by  Rarus  in  the  year  1878,  wiped  out 
all  previous  records  of  trotting  horses,  first  horse  two  min- 
utes thirteen  seconds  and  a quarter.  Mr.  Bonner  has 
to-day  three  times  as  many  horses  that  can  trot  in  two 
minutes  and  thirty  seconds  as  there  were  in  the  whole 
country  twenty-five  years  ago.  He  takes  no  stock  in  horse- 
racing ; and  it  is  to  his  infinite  credit,  that  his  horses  have 
never  been  allowed  to  run  for  any  kind  of  stake.  He  de- 
rives great  pleasure  in  showing  his  elegant  stables  to  his 
friends,  as  well  as  in  driving  his  fast  flyers. 

In  the  year  1859  I learned  incidentally  from  Mrs. 


ROBERT  BONNER. 


207 


Beecher,  that  her  husband  was  sorely  perplexed  about  a 
mortgage  of  ten  thousand  dollars  on  his  house  in  Brooklyn 
long  past  due.  It  seemed  strange  to  me  that  there  were 
not  rich  men  enough  in  Plymouth  Church  to  relieve  their 
pastor  of  his  burden.  I mentioned  this  circumstance  to 
Robert  Bonner,  who  was  surprised,  and  said  it  was  a shame 
that  a man  of  Mr.  Beecher's  greatness  should  thus  be 
trammeled  by  debt.  Bonner  lilce,  he  said,  with  his  usual 
prompt  decision  that  he  would  pay  oft  the  mortgage,  and 
the  only  condition  was  secrecy.  He  drew  a check  for  the 
amount,  but  as  that  could  not  be  kept  a secret,  he  canceled 
it,  and  liandcd  me  the  currency,  which  I deposited  with 
John  E.  Williams,  then  president  of  the  Metropolitan 
Bank.  He  was  the  only  custodian  of  the  secret  except 
Mrs.  Beecher,  and  this  generous  act  of  Mr.  Bonner  is  now 
first  made  public.  When  I carried  the  tidings  to  Mr. 
Beecher,  he  was  overcome  by  emotion.  I can  never  forget 
Mr.  Beecher's  few  wrords  of  grateful  recognition  as  he 
pressed  my  hand. 

The  circulation  of  the  New  York  Ledger  has  reached 
as  high  as  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  copies  per 
week  and  still  continues  to  be  a source  of  great  profit  to  its 
owner,  who  now,  in  the  enjoyment  of  excellent  health  and 
the  society  of  his  friends,  is  taking  all  the  comfort  his  well 
earned  millions  can.  bring. 


Note. — Mr.  Bonner  has  recently  purchased  the  famous  trotter,  Maud  S. 
from  William  H.  Vanderbilt,  for  the  princely  sum  of  forty  thousand  dol- 
lars. In  a letter  to  George  H.  Stuart,  of  Philadelphia,  declining  to  permit 
Maud  S.  to  be  exhibtied  at  the  Fair  of  the  Pennsylvania  State  Agricultur- 
al Society,  Mr.  Bonner,  in  speaking  of  the  propriety  of  allowing  speedy 
horses  to  show  their  natural  powers,  said : “ I once  put  the  following  ques- 
tions to  your  friend  and  my  friend,  Dr.  McCosh  : ‘ What  did  the  Almighty 
endow  swift  trotting-horses  with  extraordinary  speed  for,  if  it  was  wrong  to 
let  them  indulge  in  their  natural  gait  ? Did  He  ever  make  anything  for  the 
use  of  man  of  which  man  is  bound  to  use  a mean  specimen,  when  he  can 
honestly  afford  to  use  a good  one  ? If  so,’  I added,  ‘ then  all  you  clergymen 
ought  to  be  confined  to  broken-down,  spavined,  and  foundered  horses.’  The 
great  metaphysician,  with  a smile,  replied:  ‘Those  are  questions  for  theo- 
logians, like  Dr.  Hodge,’  the  doctor  happening  to  be  standing  by  his  side.” 


X. 


FANNY  FERN- JAMES  PARTON. 

Fanny  Fern’s  bright  and  pungent  Sketches — Witty , tender 
and  touching — Living  in  Destitution  in  Boston — A 
Proposition  which  surprises  her — Oliver  Dyer , the 
Friend  in  Need— How  Derby  & Miller  became  her 
Publishers — Why  she  called  herself  Fanny  Fern — 
Great  success  of  her  first  Book — Soliloquy  to  her  old 
Inkstand — Fanny  Fern  sends  Burglars  after  Bonner — 
Visits  Beecher’s  early  Home — Beecher’s  Recollections 
of  Fanny  Fern's  School  Days — Letters  to  her  Pub- 
lisher— Supposed  Portrait  of  her  Brother , N.  P.  Wil- 
lis— “I  like  you  and  your  writings .” 

TOURING-  the  years  1852-3  nearly  all  of  the  newspapers  in 
the  country  were  printing  short,  bright  and  pungent 
paragraphs ; some  of  them  witty,  others  very  tender  and 
touching,  but  all  of  them  written  by  some  unknown  person 
under  the  nom  de  plume  of  “ Fanny  Fern.” 

As  a publisher  I had  occasion  to  look  over  the  newspa- 
per exchanges  quite  frequently,  and  it  occurred  to  me  that 
these  sketches  gathered  together  and  published  in  book 
form,  could  not  fail  to  meet  with  a popular  demand.  I 
therefore  wrote  to  the  then  unknown  author,  addressing 
her  as  “ Fanny  Fern,”  and  directing  my  letter  to  the  care 
of  the  Boston  True  Flag,  for  which  she  was  a contributor. 
She  was  at  that  time  a myth  to  the  public,  so  far  as  her 
real  name  was  concerned.  In  this  letter  I proposed  the 
publication  of  a volume  of  the  sketches  to  be  collected  by 
her.  My  proposition  was  to  pay  a royalty  of  ten  cents  per 
[208] 


FANNY  FERN. 


209 


copy  for  all  sold  or  one  thousand  dollars  for  the  copyright. 
This  proposal  was  a great  surprise  to  her.  A year  before 
she  had  been  living  in  destitution,  her  only  income  for  the 
support  of  herself  and  child  consisting  of  the  small  pit- 
tance of  six  dollars  per  week,  the  combined  amounts  re- 
ceived by  her  from  the  two  papers,  the  Boston  Olive  Branch 
and  the  Boston  True  Flag , to  each  of  whicli  she  was  a 
weekly  contributor. 

Tbe  offer  as  proposed  by  me  was  entertained  by  her, 
after  consulting  with  her  good  friend,  Oliver  Dyer,  then 
publisher  of  the  New  York  Musical  World  and  Times , a 
weeklv  paper,  edited  by  Fanny  Fern's  brother,  Kichard 
Storrs  Willis. 

Mr.  Dyer  had  previously  called  the  attention  of  Mr. 
Willis  to  these  popular  sketches,  but  neither  of  those  gen- 
tlemen were  then  aware  that  they  came  from  the  pen  of 
the  gifted  sister  of  Mr.  Willis.  The  secret  was  finally  dis- 
covered through  a correspondence  revealing  the  true  state 
of  affairs  regarding  her  needy  condition  and  the  small 
amount  she  was  earning.  Mr.  Dyer  without  delay  offered 
to  double  the  amount  she  was  receiving,  if  she  would 
write  exclusively  for  the  Musical  World  and  Times , the 
matter  to  be  contributed  not  to  exceed  one  production  each 
week  of  her  short  sketches,  while  her  contract  with  the 
two  Boston  papers  referred  to  required  at  least  a column 
per  week. 

. Fanny  Fern  was  both  surprised  and  delighted  at  this 
offer  and  immediately  accepted  it.  The  Boston  papers,  on 
finding  that  they  had  lost  their  brilliant  contributor, 
sought  to  get  her  back.  She  referred  the  matter  to  Mr. 
Dyer,  and  by  his  advice  an  arrangement  was  made  whereby 
she  obtained  a large  and  satisfactory  increase  of  salary 
from  the  Olive  Branch  and  the  True  Flag,  and  continued 
to  write  for  them,  until  she  removed  to  New  York. 

Other  publishers  soon  after  offered  her  favorable  terms 
to  publish  a volume  of  the  then  famous  sketches. 

Mr.  Dyer  advised  her  to  accept  Derby  & Miller's  pro- 


210 


FANNY  FERN. 


position  to  pay  her  a royalty  on  each  copy  sold,  the  wisdom 
of  which  advice  was  soon  fully  demonstrated.  Subse- 
quently Mr.  Dyer  informed  me  that  what  decided  him  to 
recommend  my  firm  in  preference  to  others,  was  the  enter- 
prise and  tact  we  showed  in  our  advertising  in  the  Weekly 
Tribune  and  other  papers. 

I did  not  have  the  pleasure  of  meeting  this  brilliant 
writer  until  after  the  publication  of  her  first  volume.  I 
received,  however,  the  following  characteristic  letters  from 
her,  previous  to  our  meeting  : 


“ New  York,  , 1853. 

“ Mr.  Derby: 

“ Dear  Sir: — Yours  and  Mrs.  Derby’s  kind  and  cordial  invi- 
tation quite  touched  my  heart  (as  you  know  me  only  through  pen 
and  ink).  I wonder  if  you  hiow  how  pleasant  it  is,  this  personal 
interest  my  publishers  take  in  me  ? I like  it;  and  I like  you ; 
still  I can't  come,  and  I’ll  tell  you  why:  When  I first  astonished 
my  brother*'  with  my  sudden  appearance  in  New  York,  he  got  up 
a fraternal  frown,  because  1 didn’t  let  him  know  I was  coming, 
and  because  (afterward)  I would  not  come  directly  to  his  house 
with  my  babvf  and  traps. 

“I  tgok  supper  with  him  at  Thomson’s  on  Broadway  the  other 
night,  and  I know  from  what  he  said  he  is  little  vexed  with  me 
for  my  obduracy.  Well,  you  see,  in  such  a posture  of  affairs,  if  I 
come  to  visit  you , shouldn't  I catch  it?  So  you  must  come  to  New 
York  for  all  I see,  and  call  on  me — won’t  you  ? And  in  the  mean- 
time believe  how  much  I thank  you  for  an  invitation  which  it 
would  give  me  so  much  real  pleasure  to  accept.  I lost  my  seuses 
at  Castle  Garden  the  other  night,  what  with  the  moonlight  and 
the  music  and  the  glorious  expanse  of  sky — Oh,  wasn’t  I a happy 
Fanny  ? I was  too  happy — I didn’t  know  what  to  do  with  myself, 
so  when  I got  home  I cried  and  then  I felt  be*  ter.  I sha’n’t  see 
anything  I like  so  well  in  New  York,  I’m  sure  of  it,  though  I’ve 
many  things  to  see  yet — Greenwood  Cemetery  for  one — I shall  go 
there  this  week.  My  brother  was  charmed  because  I was  so  de- 
lighted with  a little  unpretending  church  opposite  his  house,  half 
hidden  by  ivy  and  roses.  It  is  a lovely  little  place,  way  up  near 
the  Crystal  Palace. 

* Richard  S.  Willis.  t Her  daughter  Eleanor. 


FANNY  FERN. 


211 


“ I saw  a letter  from  Orton*  to  Dyer  last  week — wasn’t  it  good 
and  funny  ? Men  write  such  capital  tilings  to  each  other.  I tell 
Dyer  to  keep  it  going  and  let  me  see  the  correspondence.  Give 
my  regards  to  Mr.  Miller  and  tell  my  dear  Jack  [a  favorite  dog] 
that  I wish  he  was  crouching  at  my  feet  this  minute.  He  has  a 
rival  in  a little  darkie  who  waits  and  tends  at  the  house  where 
I board.  His  name  is  George  and  he  has  given  notice  after  a 
week’s  acquaintance  with  me  that  when  I leave  ‘ he  shall  follow 
me  and  be  my  waiter.’  He’s  about  twTelve  years  old.  Every 
morning  he  presented  his  woolly  head  at  my  door  with  a bunch 
of  flowers — by  no  means  badly  got  up  either.  I talk  with  him  to 
draw'  him  out;  he  says  ‘Way  down  on  Swanee  River’ is  too 
common!  he  don’t  like  it;  ‘ it’s  a nigger  tune.’  I shall  do  him  up 
in  an  article  before  I get  through  with  him.  Poor  little  Cuffie  ! 

“Just  look  in  the  Musical  World  and  Times  this  week,  will 
you,  and  see  what  Dyer  has  written.  Isn’t  he  keen  ? Mr.  Miller 
will  tell  you  about  him ; he  says  more  original  things  in  half  an 
hour  than  I could  get  off  in  a year,  and  then  he’s  good  and  sin- 
cere and  independent  and  dare  say  what  he  thinks — I like  that  ; 
I hate  pussy  cats. 

“ Fanny  Fern.” 

“ My  Dear  Sir  : 

“ Fanny  does  hope  to  come,  before  she  dies,  to  see  her  kind 
friends  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Derby,  but  is  not  able  to  stay  at  present, 
when  she  has  a dear  little  girl  now  in  the  neighborhood  of  Boston, 
her  eldest  child,  who  is  situated  in  this  way.  I told  you  some 
time  since  that  Mr.  Eldrege’sf  parents  divided  the  property  be- 
tween my  two  little  girls  : the  old  gentleman  died  two  months 
since,  making  it  a condition  of  them  receiving  the  property  that 
the  eldest  was  still  to  remain  with  his  wife  till  her  death.  The 
old  lady  is  over  eighty  and  her  physicians  say  cannot  live  many 
months.  When  she  dies  my  child  comes  to  me.  That  event  may 
happen  at  any  moment,  as  the  old  lady  is  very  feeble — in  which 
case  I must  go  directly  over  to  Boston  to  claim  my  child,  and  see 
that  matters  are  properly  arranged. 

“It  was  hard  work  parting  from  her,  for  her  heart  is  knit  to 
mine  more  strongly  than  children’s  are  ordinarily — by  sympathy 
with  me  in  trial  and  sorrow.  I write  her  often,  for  it  is  very  dull 

* The  late  William  Orton, 
t Her  first  husband. 


212 


FANNY  FERN. 


for  her  there.  I shall  feel  unsettled  till  I get  her  with  me,  and 
fear  to  move  about  much  at  present  for  that  reason.  I thank  you 
so  much  for  your  kindness  I should  like  much  to  see  you  in  your 
pleasant  home.  Kiss  those  little  house  doves  and  tell  them  Aunt 
Fanny  will  come  some  time. 

“ And  now  about  business — I am  so  glad  my  book  has  done  so 
well.  I feel  now  as  though  I could  lie  down  to  sleep  without 
feeling  that  it  was  a waste  of  time — on  waking  up  in  the  night 
and  thinking  over  an  article  for  the  next  morning  at  the  bidding 
of  some  Editor.  I think  you  are  right  about  the  profitableness  of 
book-writing  over  this  newspaper  dribbling — I have  been  ponder- 
ing the  same  thing  for  some  time.  I am  so  glad  Mrs.  Derby 
liked  my  school  article  in  the  O.  B. — it  was  descriptive  of  a model 
school  in  Boston — taught  by  an  old  maid  where  my  child  at- 
tended. 

“ It  used  to  make  me  squirm  to  go  into  it  and  see  the  poor 
little  creatures  sitting  up  as  straight  as  if  they  were  skewered — if 
she  don’t  have  to  answer  for  a few  crooked  spines,  my  name  isn’t 
Fanny.  I wish  some  old  bachelor  would  save  the  victims  by  let- 
ting matrimony  take  the  nonsense  out  of  her.  I tell  you,  Mr. 
Derby,  a woman  isn’t  good  for  anything  till  she  has  been  married. 
Bless  your  dear  masculine  souls,  she’s  just  like  half  a pair  of  scis- 
sors till  some  priest  rivets  Hymen’s  chain  around  her  ; and  now 
make  a bow  ! ” 

Out  of  a number  of  fictitious  names  from  which  Fanny 
Fern  selected  her  nom  de  plume  she  gives  in  her  sketch — 
“A  Story  about  Myself” — the  following  interesting 
account  : — 

“Nobody  could  be  more  astonished  than  I,  to  find  myself 
famous;  I never  dreamed  of  it,  when  I sat  in  a small  room,  at  the 
top  of  the  house  where  I lodged ; scribbling  over  a sheet  of  coarse 
foolscap  with  noms  deplume , out  of  which  I was  to  choose  one  for 
my  first  article — which  article  I never  thought  of  preserving,  any 
more  than  the  succeeding  ones,  supposing  my  meagre  pecuniary 
remuneration  the  only  reward  I was  to  hope  for.  I think  the 
reason  I selected  the  name  ‘Fern’  was  because  when  a child,  and 
walking  with  my  mother  in  the  country,  she  always  used  to  pluck 
a leaf  of  it  to  place  in  her  bosom,  for  the  sweet  odor,  and  that 


FANNY  FERN. 


213 


gloomy  morning  when  I almost  despaired  of  earning  bread  for  my 
children,  I had  been  thinking  of  her,  and  wishing  she  were  living 
that  I might  lay  my  head  upon  her  bosom  and  tell  her  all  my 
sorrows;  and  then  memory  carried  me  back,  I scarce  knew  how,  to 
those  childish  days  when  I ran  before  her  in  the  woods  to  pluck  the 
sweet  fern  she  loved,  and  then  I said  to  myself  my  name  shall  he 
‘Fanny  Fern,’  little  dreaming  any  body  would  ever  know  or  care 
anything  about  it.” 

The  title  of  her  first  book  was  “ Fern  Leaves  from 
Fanny's  Portfolio/'  of  which,  in  less  than  one  year's  time 
from  date  of  publication,  we  sold,  over  eighty  thousand 
copies.  A second  series  followed  within  a year,  and  also  a 
juvenile,  entitled,  “ Little  Ferns  for  Fanny's  Little 
Friends." 

The  copju-ight  paid  her  on  these  volumes  amounted  to 
over  $10,000  within  two  years  from  date  of  publication. 
She  looked  upon  all  her  successes  calmly,  as  though  it  was 
something  which  was  to  come  to  her.  The  manner  in  which 
the  sudden  change  in  her  circumstances  affected  her  is  best 
illustrated  by  the  following  characteristic  sketch  in  the 
Neiu  York  Ledger , written  during  the  year  of  her  removal 
into  her  own  new  home,  and  after  a competence  was  assured 
her  through  her  pen  : 

“ MY  OLD  INK- STAND  AND  I. 

“ Well,  old  Ink-stand,  what  do  you  think  of  this  ? Haven’t  we 
got  well  through  the  woods,  hey  ? A few  scratches  and  bruises 
we  have  had  to  be  sure,  but  what  of  that?  Didn’t  you  whisper 
where  we  should  come  out  the  first  morning  I dipped  my  pen  in 
your  sable  depths  in  the  sky-parlor  of  that  hyena-like  Mrs.  Grif- 
fin ? With  what  an  eagle  glance  she  discovered  that  my  bonnet 
ribbon  was  undeniably  guilty  of  two  distinct  washings,  and,  em- 
boldened by  my  shilling  delaine  and  the  shabby  shoes  of  little 
Nell,*  inquired,  1 If  I intended  taking  in  slop-work  into  her 
apartments  ?’  How  distinctly  I was  made  to  understand  that  Nell 
was  not  to  speak  above  a whisper,  or  in  any  way  infringe  upon  the 
rights  of  her  uncombed,  unwashed,  unbaptized,  uncomfortable 


* Her  youngest  daughter,  Eleanor. 


214 


FANNY  FERN. 


little  Griffins.  Poor  little  Nell,  who  clung  to  my  gown  with 
childhood’s  instinctive  appreciation  of  the  hard  face  and  wiry 
voice  of  our  jailor.  With  what  venom  I overheard  her  inform 
Mr.  Griffin  that  ‘They  must  look  sharp  for  the  rent  of  their  sky- 
parlor,  as  its  tenants  lived  on  bread  and  milk,  and  wore  her  un- 
der-clothes rough  dry,  because  she  could  not  afford  to  pay  for 
ironing  them  !’  Do  you  remember  that , old  Ink-stand  ? And  do 
you  remember  the  morning  she  informed  me  as  you  and  I were 
busily  engaged  in  our  first  article  that  ‘ I must  come  and  scrub  the 
stairs  which  led  to  my  room,’  and  when  I ventured  humbly  to 
mention  that  this  was  not  spoken  of  in  our  agreement,  do  you  re- 
member the  Siddons-like  air  with  which  she  thundered  in  our 
astonished  ears,  ‘ Do  it  or  tramp  !’ 

“ And  do  you  remember  how  yon  vowed  ‘ If  I did  tramp  ’ you 
would  stand  by  me,  and  keep  me  out  of  the  scrape  ? and  haven’t 
you  done  it,  old  Ink-stand  ? And  don’t  you  wish  old  Griffin,  and 
all  the  little  Griffins,  and  their  likes,  both  big  and  little,  here  and 
elsewhere,  could  see  this  bran-new  house  that  you  have  helped  me 
into,  and  the  dainty  little  table  upon  which  I have  installed  you, 
untempted  by  any  new  'papier-maclie  modern  marvel  ? Turn  my 
back  on  you , old  Ink-stand  ? Not  I ! Throw  you  aside  for  your 
shabby  exterior,  as  we  were  thrown  aside  when  it  was  like  draw- 
ing teeth  to  get  a solitary  shilling  to  buy  you  at  a second-hand 
shop  ? Perish  the  thought  ! 

“ Yes,  old  Ink-stand,  if  Griffin,  and  all  that  crew,  should  see  us 
now,  couldn’t  we  take  the  wind  out  of  their  sails  ? Couldn’t  we 
come  into  their  front  door,  instead  of  their  ‘ back  gate  ?’  Didn’t 
they  ‘ always  know  that  there  was  something  in  us  ?’  We  can 
forgive  them  though,  can’t  we  ? By  the  title-deed  and  insurance 
policy  of  this  bran  new  pretty  house  which  their  sneers  have 
helped  us  into,  and  whose  doors  shall  always  be  open  to  those 
who  have  cheered  us  on,  we’ll  do  it.  Dropped  many  a tear  into 
you,  have  I ? 

“Well,  who  cares?  You  know  very  well,  that  every  rough 
■word  aimed  at  my  quivering  ears  was  an  extra  dollar  in  my  purse, 
every  rude  touch  of  my  little  Nell,  strength  and  sinew  to  my  un- 
strung nerves  and  flagging  muscles.  I say,  old  Ink-stand,  look  at 
Nell  now!  Does  any  landlady  lay  rough  hands  on  those  plump 
shoulders  ? Dare  she  sing  and  run  and  jump  and  play  to  her 
heart’s  content  ? Didn’t  you  yourself  buy  her  that  hoop  and  stick, 
and  those  dolls,  and  that  globe  of  gold-fish  ? Don’t  you  feed  and 


FANNY  FERN. 


215 


clothe  her  every  day  of  her  sunshiny  life  ? Haven’t  you  agreed  to 
do  it  long  years  to  come  ? And  won’t  you  teach  her,  as  you  have 
me,  to  defy  false  friends  and  ill  fortune  ? And  won’t  you  be  to 
my  little  Nell,  a talisman,  when  my  eyes  grow  dim,  and  hers 
brighten  ? Say,  old  Ink-stand  ?” 

Her  engagement  with  Mr.  Bonner  of  the  New  York 
Ledger , was  made  about  this  time  (1854),  and  proved  to  be 
lucrative  and  permanent.  Right  here  it  will  be  proper  to 
include  in  these  recollections  of  Fanny  Fern  some  corres- 
pondence she  had  with  Mr.  Bonner. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1868  she  wrote  him  that 
she  had  been  writing  for  the  Ledger  for  fourteen  years 
without  missing  a week,”  and  added,  “ I must  have  used 
np  the  dictionary  in  that  time.  I haven’t  the  courage  to 
examine  into  it  at  the  commencement  of  this  New  Year 
which  I heartily  hope  may  prove  a happy  one  to  you  all. 
And  to  tell  the  truth  I feel  this  morning  as  though  I needed 
a little  patting  on  the  shoulder  from  some  of  you  to  give 
me  courage  to  write  for  this  grand  new  year  that  is  coming. 
I try  to  be  able  to  do  you  good  by  some  word  of  mine  each 
week.  Sometimes  I receive  letters  telling  me  that  I have 
done  so  and  that  is  the  best  and  sweetest  reward  I could 
have.” 

‘ ‘ Ledger  Office,  90  Beekman  Street, 

“New  York,  Jan.  10,  1868. 

“My  Dear  Fanny  : 

“So  you  have  been  writing  for  the  Ledger , according  to  your 
article  for  next  week , fourteen  years.  Can  it  be  possible  that  it  is 
so  long  as  that  ? Well,  no  matter  whether  it  is  or  not,  it  is  a 
good  long  while  any  way,  and  I enclose  a check  as  a present 
to  remind  you  of  the  event;  no,  not  exactly  as  a present,  for  you 
might  not  like  to  receive  it  in  that  way,  but  as  a compensation 
for  some  anonymous  paragraphs  which  I want  you  to  write  for  the 
Ledger  whenever  you  may  feel  like  it.  You  must  frequently  see 
a paragraph  or  a sentence  in  the  paper  on  which  you  would  like 
to  make  a few  lines  of  comment  anonymously,  particularly  if  the 
subject  happens  to  be  about  husbands,  wives,  mothers,  girls  or 
babies.  Now  I want  you  to  make  such  an  item  occasionally  with- 


216 


FANNY  FERN. 


out  your  feeling  that  you  are  obliged  to  do  it — make  one  or  two 
next  week  or  next  month,  next  summer,  next  year,  or  now  and 
then  as  you  may  feel  like  it. 

“ If  you  should  send  me  no  more  than  five  during  the  next  year 
or  two,  I’ll  be  satisfied,  and  if  you  should  send  me  fifty.  I’ll  take 
them  just  the  same. 

“Yours  always, 

“Robert  Bonner.” 

Having  a taste  for  decorations  Mrs.  Parton  (Fanny 
Fern)  always  succeeded  in  making  her  rooms  look  pretty 
and  inviting,  though  made  attractive  with  very  inexpensive 
articles.  She  had  been  visited  by  burglars  five  or  six  times, 
and  after  one  of  these  visits  she  wrote  a humorous  para- 
graph to  the  Ledger  as  follows  : — 

“ This  is  the  fifth  time  I have  been  honored  by  a visit  from 
burglars.  Being  an  author  and  the  wife  of  an  author,  I can  never 
cease  wondering  at  this  distinguishing  mark  of  their  preference. 
Now  if  they  want  plunder,  why  not  goto  headquarters — to  Robert 
Bonner,  for  iustance.  I don’t  own  a Dexter,  nor  a Pochahoutas, 
and  a Lantern  or  Light  is  the  last  thing  they’d  want.  I have 
neither  cashmere  shawls  nor  diamonds.  All  the  silver  I ever 
owned  they  relieved  me  of  two  years  since.  Bonds  and  coupons 
I am  not  so  soft  as  to  keep  in  my  desk,  which  they  invariably 
turn  inside  out.  There’s  nothing  to  pay  them  for  a sixth  visit 
save  our  respective  manuscripts  which  I defy  them  either  to  sell 
or  decipher.  What  there  is  stunning  in  the  appearance  of  our 
quiet  domicile  looked  at  burglar-wise  I can’t  imagine.  Now 
there’s  Secretary  Hamilton  Fish’s  house  opposite.  I don’t  hear 
that  they  have  done  anything  to  that.  Why  don't  they  give  him  a 
turn  ? There  are  plenty  of  my  other  neighbors  who  offer  more 
inducements  than  I can  hold  out  ; why  then  do  they  always  come 
to  me?  Also,  how  did  they  know  I had  gone  to  Boston  for  two 
days?  There  I was  railing  at  the  storm  that  kept  me  a prisoner  at 
the  hotel,  in  the  land  of  baked  beans,  while  they  were  blessing 
that  same  howling  wind  and  the  rattling  windows  which  deaf- 
ened the  sound  of  their  thievish  footsteps.  What  did  they  take? 
I’ll  tell  you  what  they  didn't  take,  for  which  I get  on  my  knees  to 
them,  whether  they  are  in  jail  or  out.  The  life  of  my  little  grand- 


FANNY  FERN. 


217 


child,*  who  unsuspectingly  ran  up-stairs  alone,  to  get  some  little 
plaything,  and  tripped  down  singing  to  say,  ‘ She  couldn’t  get  the 
closet  door  open.’  The  wretch  was  in  there.  That,  taking  other 
gold,  he  left  the  gold  that  was  shining  on  her  flossy  hair,  is  matter 
of  praise  enough  for  me. 

u I wouldn’t  lift  a finger  to  point  him  out  if  I could,  when  that 
soft,  little  breathing  was  so  near  him  and  he  didn’t  stop  it  for 
fear  of  possible  detection.  Also  I tender  him  my  thanks  for  so 
gently  moving  my  ivy  when  he  escaped  out  of  the  window,  so 
that  not  a leaf  was  torn  from  its  stalk.  In  fact,  my  indignation, 
I think,  lighted  down  upon  a certain  official  at  the  police  station 
near,  who,  when  informed  of  the  burglary,  coolly  remarked,  * Oh, 
yes;  Parton’s  house  is  entered  regular,  once  a year.’  ” 

Soon  after  the  appearance  of  this  article  in  the  Ledger, 
Mr.  Bonner’s  residence  was  entered  and  robbed,  the  burg- 
lars securing  and  carrying  away  all  the  silver  in  his  house 
and  making  good  their  escape  with  the  booty. 

On  the  occasion  of  a summer’s  journey,  Fanny  Fern 
visited  Litchfield,  Conn.,  the  birth-place  of  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  and  also  the  earlier  home  of  his  sister  Harriet 
Beecher  Stowe.  She  thus  writes  to  the  New  York  Ledger 
concerning  the  impressions  she  received  of  the  place  : 

“ I think  Litchfield  will  do  as  the  early  home  of  Henry  Ward 
Beecher.  I am  inspecting  its  big  trees,  hearing  its  birds  sing  and 
watching  its  sunsets  f;ide,  and  can  well  understand  how  he  came 
to  love  all  these  things  so  well  that  neither  his  pen  or  his  lips  can 
help  chirping  spite  of  the  Plymouth  Church  creed.  I can  under- 
stand how  from  the  healthful  breath  of  these  hills  came  the  strong 
physique  which  is  so  seldom  married  to  vigorous  mentality.  I 
looked  at  the  old  house  where  he  was  born  and  felt  like  sitting 
down  there  and  challenging  its  ancient  roof  to  tell  me  all  about 
Harriet  Stowe  and  Henry  Ward,  not  the  things  that  you  and  land 
all  the  world  know,  but  the  delicious  little  bits,  such  as  the  relic 
hunter  delights  to  pick  up  for  his  cabinet,  such  as  the  surface  eye 
never  sees  or  cares  to  see.  But  the  old  roof  was  silent,  though 
the  ancient  tree  branches  scratched  it  and  swept  over  it  as  if  to 
say,  ; Wake  up!  here  is  a Beecher  Lover,  wake  up!  and  give  her  a 

* Since  a regular  contributor  to  the  Ledger. 


218 


FANNY  FERN. 


welcome,  and  tell  her  something  worth  coming  all  these  miles 
from  New  York  to  hear.’  But  the  old  house  was  leaning  lazily 
on  one  side  with  age  and  it  only  said,  1 Our  work  is  over;  be  sat- 
isfied with  its  results  and  cherish  as  I have  the  gifted  children 
who  one  by  one  have  flown  away  from  the  parent  nest  to  cheer  the 
heavy-hearted  in  cities  with  their  song.’  ” 

To  this  Mr.  Beecher  responded  in  his  characteristic 
style  through  the  columns  of  the  Ledger,  as  follows  : 

“You  have  done  well  to  try  a summer  in  Litchfield  ! It  will 
surprise  you  with  its  charms,  if  you  know  how  to  discover  them. 
Let  me  give  you  a hint  or  two  which  I know  to  be  matters  well 
founded,  as  I tried  them  more  than  forty  years  ago,  yes,  fifty. 

“ Please  go  about  sundown  to  the  west  side  of  my  father’s  old 
house,  and  sit  down  on  the  kitchen  door-step  when' all  the  folks 
have  gone  to  meeting.  Let  the  clock  in  the  kitchen,  one  of  those 
old,  long,  loud  ticking  clocks,  sound  its  measured  beat,  while  the 
frogs  in  the  puddles  to  the  west,  if  they  still  exist,  tune  up 
vociferously.  Then  if  you  grow  a little  melancholy,  sing  ‘ Iloslyn 
Castle  ’ till  you  cry,  and  you  will  have  just  such  a good  time  as  I 
used  to.  ...  I am  afraid  those  quince  trees  are  all  gone  from  the 
north  side  of  the  house  from  which  we  used  to  gather  barrels  of 
quinces,  and  whose  early  blossoms  were  so  tender  and  whose 
switches  were  so  tough.  Ah,  those  trees  used  to  come  home  very 

near  to  me! Of  course  you  will  often  walk  under  the 

great  elms  in  North  Street.  Tell  me  whether  they  really 
touch  the  skies,  as  it  used  to  seem  to  me,  and  if  they  yet  hold 
mysterious  conversation  when  the  wind  moves  in  their  tops  and 
find  out  what  it  is  they  say,  if  you  can,  for  I never  could. 

“Litchfield  was  famous  for  good  society.  I would  send  you 
notes,  but  you  would  have  to  deliver  them  in  the  graveyard,  always 
hospitable  to  the  dead,  and  unhospitable  to  the  living.  And  yet 
if  you  should  go  over  to  the  east  of  the  town,  and  wandering  in 
the  burial  ground  you  should  find  a stone  marked  Roxania  Foote 
Beecher , please  uncover  your  head  and  drive  from  your  mind  all 
but  heavenly  thoughts.  She  will  not  speak  to  you,  I know  she 
will  not  ! Oh  ! why  should  we  be  left  struggling  on  in  this  life  in 
doubt  and  often  in  despondency,  when  one  word,  one  single  word 
would  re-inspire  the  soul,  and  that  word  never  be  spoken  ? 

“ The  dead  beneath  the  sod  may  be  silent;  but  over  our  heads 


FANNY  FERN. 


219 


in  the  Spirit  land  is  there  no  voice  there  and  none  to  care  and 
comfort  ?” 

Mr.  Beecher  once  told  me  that  he  first  met  Fanny 
Fern  in  Hartford.  He  said,  When  I was  a boy  in  col- 
lege, she  attended  Catherine  Beecher’s  school  in  that  city. 
The  latter  kept  a whole  stable  full  of  horses  for  the  girls  to 
ride  horseback,  my  sister  Harriet  among  them.  I used  to 
go  with  Fanny  on  horseback.  She  was  a blonde,  had  a 
very  fair  face  and  flowing  flaxen  hair.  She  was  quite  a be- 
witching little  creature.  One  of  the  prettiest  girls  in 
Hartford.” 

Soon  after  the  publication  of  Fern  Leaves,  Mr.  Dyer 
having  become  associated  with  Mason  Brothers,  the  later 
volumes  of  Fanny  Fern’s  works  were  published  by  them. 
Among  these  were  the  books,  Ruth  Hall  and  Rose  Clark. 
The  first-named  was  something  of  an  auto-biography, 
under  a veil  of  fiction.  Both  volumes  were  well  received, 
that  of  Ruth  Hall  reaching  the  sale  of  over  seventy  thou- 
sand copies. 

The  acquaintance  so  pleasantly  began  with  the  author 
of  Fern  Leaves  and  Ruth  Hall  resulted  in  a friendship 
which  remained  unbroken  up  to  the  day  of  her  lamented 
death,  which  occurred  October  10th,  1872. 

In  the  year  1874,  the  following  interesting  article  ap- 
peared in  The  New  York  Herald , in  a leview  of  Mr.  James 
Parton’s  Memorial  Volume  of  his  wife,  the  late  Fanny 
Fern,  published  by  0.  W.  Carleton  & Co. 

“We  have  before  us  one  of  the  best  specimens  of  woman’s 
work  in  the  way  of  essay  writing  that  has  ever  been  published. 
It  is  made  up  of  choice  selections  from  ‘Fanny  Fern’s  ’ writings, 
including  extracts  from  ‘Fern  Leaves,’  books  which  were  the 
talk  of  the  country  twenty  years  ago.  The  interest  that  was  felt 
in  N.  P.  Willis’  gifted  literary  sister  was  as  unique  as  it  was  in- 
tense. Every  bit  of  gossip  concerning  her  was  treasured  as  a 
valuable  piece  of  information.  That  she  was  an  interesting  young 
widow  with  curly  hair  and  jaunty  withal  in  her  weeds,  was  of 


220 


JAMES  PARTON. 


more  consequence  than  all  that  could  be  told  of  queens  and  courts. 
And  so  the  pseudonym  of  Sara  Willis  grew  in  fame  and  favor  until 
the  name  of  ‘Fanny  Fern  ’ was  everywhere  a household  word. 
When  her  two  novels  appeared  in  rapid  succession  to  her  other 
works  they  sold  largely  ; and  it  will  be  remembered  that  her 
sketch  of  Apollo  Hyacinth,  which  was  supposed  to  be  a not  too 
friendly  portrait  of  her  brother,  the  poet  journalist,  created  a 
fervor  greater  than  any  of  Macaulay’s  vivid  pictures  were  capable 
of  creating.  Fanny  Fern’s  personality  was  purely  womanly.  It 
was  as  a woman  that  she  achieved  success  and  marked  her  per- 
sonality deep  into  all  that  she  did  or  sought  to  do.  This  is  well 
illustrated  by  a specimen  letter  of  a kind  of  which  she  received 
many  hundreds  ; this  one  printed  by  Mr.  Parton  in  his  biography 
being  the  only  one  she  preserved.  It  was  as  follows  : 


“Fanny  Fern  : 


“Cincinnati,  June  24th,  1854. 
“ I like  your  writings  and  you.  G.  M.  S.” 


This  is  the  whole  story.  It  was  not  in  her  style  that 
Fanny  Fern's  popularity  consisted,  but  simply  in  that  per- 
sonality which  impelled  men  to  say,  “I  like  your  writings 
and  I like  you." 


JAMES  PARTON. 

A modern  Plutarch — First  literary  Effort — JV.  P.  Willis 
his  first  partner — Mason  Brothers ’ liberal  offer — 
Writes  Life  of  Horace  Greeley — His  other  famous 
biographies — A pains-taking  Historican  with  “ British 
pluck.  ” 

James  Parton  may  well  be  called  a modern  Plutarch. 
He  has  not  only  written  more  lives  of  eminent  men  than 
the  famous  Plutarch,  who  flourished  nearly  two  thousand 
years  ago,  but  has  done  his  work  equally  well. 

I first  became  acquainted  with  Mr.  Parton  while  he  was 


JAMES  PARTON. 


221 


engaged  with  Morris  & Willis  on  The  Home  Journal.  This 
was  thirty  years  ago.  It  will  be  interesting  to  my  readers, 
I am  sure,  to  learn  the  beginnings  of  Mr.  Parton’s  literary 
efforts  and  how  he  came  to  gravitate  to  that  well  known  and 
fashionable  literary  journal. 

It  seems  he  had  an  early  ambition  to  become  an  author. 
His  first  attempt  was  an  essay  written  to  prove  that  the 
author  of  “Jane  Eyre,”  which  was  all  the  rage  in  literary 
circles  at  that  time  was  a woman.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  Charlotte  Bronte  evidently  wanted  to  disguise  her  sex 
in  choosing  the  name  of  Currer  Bell  as  the  ostensible 
author.  After  Mr.  Parton  had  prepared  this  his  first  lit- 
erary effort,  he  folded  it  neatly  and  enclosed  it  to  “ >7. 
Parker  Willis,  Esq.,  Editor  of  The  Home  Journal .” 

As  some  of  my  readers  will  remember,  Mr.  Willis  at 
that  time  resided  in  Fourth  St.  near  Washington  Square, 
where  on  the  front  door  of  his  residence,  a large  plate  bore 
the  single  word  “ Willis.”  Instead  of  mailing  his  contri- 
bution to  the  editor,  the  young  writer  delivered  it  at  Mr. 
Willis’  residence.  Mr.  Parton  says  he  felt  so  much  abashed 
at  his  temerity,  that  if  he  could  have  gotten  his  essay  back 
again,  he  would  gladly  have  burned  it. 

After  this  Mr.  Parton  watched  with  a good  deal  of 
anxiety  each  weekly  issue  of  The  Home  Journal  to  learn 
the  fate  of  his  contribution.  He  says  that  after  waiting  a 
long  time,  he  had  abandoned  the  idea  of  its  ever  appear- 
ing. But  one  Saturday  he  bought  a copy  of  the  paper  at  a 
bookstore  kept  under  the  Astor  House,  and  before  putting 
it  in  his  pocket  glanced  at  the  clear,  handsome  front  page 
and  there  was  his  article  ! And  not  only  that,  but  it  was 
introduced  to  the  readers  by  a few  lines  written  by  Mr. 
Willis  calling  attention  to  the  article  and  complimenting 
the  writer.  Mr.  Parton  described  his  feelings  as  ecstatic. 
He  rushed  around  to  tell  his  friends  of  his  good  fortune. 

This  was  a beginning  of  what  has  proved  to  be  a long 
and  interesting  literary  career.  Mr.  Parton  continued  to 
contribute  to  the  Journal , but  always  anonymously  and 


222 


JAMES  PARTON. 


without  pay,  as  it  was  understood  at  that  time  that  the  honor 
of  appearing  in  the  Home  Journal  was  sufficient  compen- 
sation for  any  literary  contributions,  and  I believe  the  same 
custom  prevails  to  this  day. 

Subsequently  the  young  contributor  and  famous  editor 
met  by  appointment,  when  an  arrangement  was  made 
whereby  Mr.  Parton  became  an  assistant  in  editing  this  re- 
nowned paper.  He  was,  I believe,  the  immediate  prede- 
cessor in  that  position  of  Thomas  Bailey  Aldrich. 

While  occupying  this  post,  it  was  my  good  fortune  to 
become  acquainted  with  Mr.  Parton.  I have  known  him 
pretty  well  ever  since,  and  watched  his  literary  career,  and 
truly  believe  that  there  is  not  so  industrious  and  painstak- 
ing a writer  of  good  English  who  has  been  so  long  engaged 
in  writing  for  the  magazines  and  literary  papers  in  this 
country.  Most  of  his  contributions  are  biographical 
sketches  of  eminent  or  notable  men  or  women.  He  is  the 
busiest  of  men  and  one  of  the  few  writers  whose  produc- 
tions are  not  only  eagerly  welcomed,  but  liberally  paid  for 
by  publishers. 

There  is  a curious  incident  in  Mr.  Parton’s  life,  which 
gives  us  an  inkling  of  the  origin  of  his  career  as  a biog- 
rapher and  how  he  first  became  a writer  of  books.  One 
day,  while  employed  on  the  Home  Journal,  he  was  sitting 
among  a group  of  publishers,  who  were  talking  about  liter- 
ary matters  and  particularly  about  some  very  popular  books 
that  had  just  been  published. 

Mr.  Parton  happened  to  say,  during  the  conversation, 
what  an  interesting  book  the  life  of  Horace  Greeley  would 
make,  if  the  facts  could  be  ascertained.  He  made  the 
observation  without  the  slightest  idea  of  writing  a book,  and 
had  been  telling  those  present  about  a narative  of  Horace 
Greeley’s  youthful  days,  contributed  to  the  Home  Journal 
by  Amos  Bliss,  and  concluding  his  remarks  as  follows  : 

“No  doubt  there  are  fifty  other  anecdotes  and  scenes  of  Hor- 
ace Greeley’s  early  life  quite  as  interesting  as  these,  only  they  have 


JAMES  PARTON. 


223 


never  been  written  out.  If  any  one  could  go  to  Vermont  and  New 
Hampshire  and  gather  them  up,  going  from  house  to  house  and 
getting  them  from  the  lips  of  living  persons,  the  whole  story 
would  be  as  interesting  as  Franklin’s  autobiography.” 

Some  weeks  after  this  conversation  Mr.  Parton  happen- 
to  meet  one  of  the  firm  of  Mason  Bros.,  who  was  present 
at  the  gathering  referred  to,  and  was  startled  with  a prop- 
osition to  write  a book  to  be  called  The  Life  of  Horace 
Greeley.  Not  only  was  the  offer  accompanied  by  a liberal 
allowance  of  copyright,  hut  a generous  amount  advanced 
to  enable  the  author  to  gather  such  materials  in  all  parts 
of  the  country  where  Mr.  Greeley  had  resided,  as  were  nec- 
essary to  make  an  exhaustive  and  interesting  life  of  the 
most  famous  editor  then  living. 

Mr.  Parton  accepted  the  proposition  and  undertook  the 
work.  He  says  : 

“ Late  one  afternoon,  I found  the  editor  standing  at  his  desk 
in  the  dismal  Tribune  editorial  rooms  of  that  day,  writing  with 
his  usual  velocity.  For  some  time  after  I entered,  I stood  waiting 
for  him  to  cease,  or  to  give  some  token  that  he  recognized  my 
presence.  He  continued,  however,  to  scribble  with  all  his  might, 
until  I addressed  him  and  asked  when  he  would  be  at  leisure  to 
listen  to  what  I had  to  say.  He  remarked  that  leisure  was  a com- 
modity with  which  he  had  no  acquaintance.  He  had  had  none  of 
it  for  years  and  didn’t  think  he  should  ever  have  any  more,  but 
that  he  would  listen  then  and  there  to  whatever  I had  to  offer. 
As  he  had  already  received  an  intimation  of  the  scheme  and  ex- 
pressed no  repugnance  to  it,  I had  only  to  make  known  my  name 
in  order  to  explain  my  business.  He  said  again  he  had  no  leisure 
and  could  do  nothing  to  assist  the  project  unless,  perhaps,  occa- 
sionally on  Saturday  nights,  when  he  had  a reception  at  his  house. 
I told  him  that  all  £ wished  at  present,  were  the  names  and  resi- 
dences of  the  persons  who  had  known  him  best  from  his  childhood 
up. 

“Instantly,  before  I could  get  my  pencil  out  of  my  pocket,  he 
began  to  give  me  the  names  desired.  In  the  course  of  ten  minutes, 
I had  a long  catalogue  written  down.  Soon  after,  I made  a two 
month’s  tour  in  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  New  York  and  Penn- 


224 


JAMES  PARTON. 


sylvania  collecting  the  anecdotes  and  incidents  which  are  recorded 
in  the  early  chapters  of  my  Life  of  Horace  Greeley. 

“ On  returning  to  New  York,  I bought  a complete  file  of  the 
Tribune,  for  the  twelve  years  of  its  existence  and  borrowed  sets  of 
the  Jeffersonian,  New  Yorker , and  Log  Cabin.  Every  number  of 
these  journals  I closely  examined,  and  extracted  from  each  every 
lurking  atom  of  biography  which  it  may  have  contained.  It  took 
me  six  weeks  to  do  it.  Eleven  months  after  I entered  upon  the 
work  the  manuscript  was  ready  for  the  printer. 

“Before  the  day  of  publication — such  was  the  curiosity  of  the 
public  concerning  the  foremost  editor  of  the  day — seven  thousand 
copies  of  the  work  were  ordered,  and  in  the  course  of  the  first  few 
months  about  thirty  thousand  were  sold,  which,  for  that  day,  was 
a considerable  success.” 


This,  then  was  the  first  book  ever  written  by  James  Par- 
ton.  The  wide-awake  publishers  had  no  cause  to  regret 
their  enterprise,  the  success  of  which  is  indicated  in  Mr. 
Parton's  statement  above. 

Mason  Bros.,  a few  years  later,  retired  from  the  pub- 
lishing business  to  embark  in  disseminating  musical  sounds 
through  Mason  and  Hamlin's  Cabinet  Organs,  now  so  uni- 
versally known  and  prized. 

Curiously  enough,  a decade  later,  about  the  year  1865, 
my  then  firm  of  Derby  & Miller,  published  a new  edition 
of  Par  ton's  Life  of  Greeley,  thoroughly  revised  by  the 
author. 

Mr.  Parton's  subsequent  biographies,  all  of  which  have 
taken  their  place  among  the  standard  literature  of  the 
country,  are  well  known.  The  most  important  of  them 
are,  The  Life  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  The  Life  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,  The  Life  of  Andrew  Jackson,  The  Life  of 
Aaron  Burr,  and  The  Life  of  Voltaire.  I believe  the 
most  popular  of  these  is  The  Life  of  Andrew  Jackson, 
although  the  author  considers  The  Life  of  Voltaire,  his 
master-piece. 

To  illustrate  the  care  and  faithful  work  which  Mr.  Par- 
ton  gives  to  every  subject  he  undertakes  to  write  about. 


JAMES  PA  ETON. 


225 


the  following  extract  from  his  preface  to  The  Life  of 
Andrew  Jackson,  is  a good  example  not  only  for  the  min- 
uteness of  its  statements,  but  for  the  extraordinary  research 
which  it  indicates. 

h 

“For  many  months  I was  immersed  in  this  unique,  bewilder- 
ing collection,  reading  endless  newspapers,  pamphlets,  books, 
without  arriving  at  any  conclusion  whatever.  If  anyone  at  the 
end  of  a year  even,  had  asked  what  I had  discovered  respecting 
General  Jackson,  I might  have  answered  thus:  ‘lam  given  to 
understand  Andrew  Jackson  was  a patriot  and  a traitor.  He  was 
one  of  the  greatest  of  Generals,  and  wholly  ignorant  of  the  art  of 
, war.  A writer,  brilliant,  elegant,  eloquent,  without  being  able  to 
compose  a correct  sentence,  or  spell  words  of  four  syllables.  The 
first  of  statesmen,  he  never  devised,  he  never  framed  a measure. 
He  was  the  most  candid  of  men  and  was  capable  of  the  pro- 
foundest  dissimulation.  A most  law-defying,  law-obeying  citizen. 
A stickler  for  discipline,  he  never  hesitated  to  disobey  his  superior. 
A democratic  autocrat  ; an  urbane  savage  ; an  atrocious  saint. 
So  difficult  is  it  to  obtain  information  respecting  a man  whom 
two-thirds  of  his  fellow-citizens  deified,  and  the  other  third  vili- 
fied, for  the  space  of  twelve  years  or  more.” 

The  Catalogue  Raisonne  of  authorities  prefixed  to  his 
work  shows  the  extraordinary  fidelity  and  magnitude  of 
his  investigations.  It  consists  of  more  than  two  hun- 
dred volumes  consulted.  The  style  is  easy  and  flowing, 
warmly  colored  without  extravagance,  carrying  the  reader 
with  pleasure  through  nearly  two  thousand  pages  filled 
with  striking  incidents  and  events.  One  of  the  volumes 
referred  to  in  the  preceding  catalogue  is  the  following,  pub- 
lished by  my  firm  nearly  thirty  years  ago.  I believe  that 
Judge  Walker,  the  author  of  the  book,  is  still  residing  in 
New  Orleans.  Mr.  Parton  certainly  pays  a fine  tribute  to 
the  interesting  book. 

“Jackson  and  New  Orleans;  an  authentic  Narative  of  the 
Memorable  Achievements  of  the  American  Army,  under  Andrew 
Jackson,  before  New  Orleans,  in  the  winter  of  1814  and  1815.  By 
10* 


226 


JAMES  PAKTON. 


Alexander  Walker.  Derby  & Jackson,  Publishers.  New  York, 
1856. 

(“This  work  is  one  of  the  best  executed  pieces  of  American 
history  in  existence;  most  ricli  in  facts;  told  with  spirit  and  effect. 
It  needs  only  a thorough  revision  and  a slight  toning  down,  here 
and  there,  to  be  a work  of  classic  excellence.  To  no  single  vol- 
ume is  the  author  of  this  work  so  much  indebted  as  to  ‘ Jackson 
and  New  Orleans.’  By  the  older  inhabitants  of  New  Orleans,  its 
great  merit  has  been  fully  appreciated.”) 

In  concluding  this  sketch,  it  is  a pleasure  to  say,  that  I 
fully  coincide  with  the  high  opinion  of  Mr.  Parton,  as  a 
writer,  from  so  valuable  a literary  authority  as  the  following 
from  the  London  Atheneum: 

“ He  is  a painstaking,  honest  and  courageous  historian,  ardent 
with  patriotism,  but  unprejudiced — a writer,  in  short,  of  whom 
the  United  States  have  reason  to  be  proud.  With  an  admirable 
truthfulness,  and  a daring  that  savors  of  genuine  British  ‘ pluck,’ 
Mr.  Parton  declines  to  whitewash  his  hero,  preferring  to  portray 
him  faithfully;  neither  palliating  the  bad,  nor  exaggerating  the 
good,  of  his  character.” 


XI. 


THOMAS  BAILEY  ALDRICH. 

Calls  on  the  Author  with  his  first  Verses — A Friend  who 
never  had  so  much  of  one  Thing  he  wanted  so  little  of 
— Becomes  Reader  of  MSS.  for  his  Publisher — Gets 
Five  Dollars  for  “ Baby  Bell  ” — The  young  autocrat 
Editor  taken  by  Surprise — Desk  of  Edgar  Allen  Poe 
— Aldrich  pays  for  his  Morning  Naps — Ilow  Carle- 
ton's  Trade-Mark  was  selected — The  “ Story  of  a Bad 
Boy  ” his  own  Career — Hawthorne's  delicate  Tribute 
— Memento  to  his  first  Publisher . 

TN  the  year  1854,  soon  after  I had  established  myself  in 
the  book  publishing  business  in  Nassau  street,  a pleas- 
ant looking  young  man  called  on  me  one  day,  with  a small 
MS.  of  his  verses,  which  he  desired  me  to  publish. 

I was  a little  surprised,  as  the  youthful  aspirant  to  author- 
ship was  then  barely  eighteen  years  of  age  ; however,  being 
pleased  with  his  sprightly  address  and  the  neat  chirography 
of  his  MS.,  I glanced  over  the  pages  and  frankly  told  him 
that  it  was  commercially  hazardous  for  publishers  to  risk 
their  money  in  publishing  volumes  of  poetry,  especially  of  a 
beginner  and  one  so  young  as  he.  I said  to  him,  however, 
that  I would  submit  the  MS.  to  my  reader,  who  was  at  that 
time  the  late  George  Ripley,  then  literary  critic  of  the  New 
York  Tribune. 

This  was  my  first  acquaintance  with  Thomas  Bailey 
Aldrich,  who  now  ranks  among  our  best  American  poets. 

Young  Aldrich  called  a few  days  later  (trembling,  as  he 
afterwards  told  me)  to  learn  the  reader’s  opinion  of  his  first 

[227] 


228 


THOMAS  BAILEY  ALDRICH. 


poetical  effort.  I liad  the  pleasure  of  informing  him  that 
it  was  decidedly  favorable,  and  I would  print  and  publish 
a small  edition,  which  I did,  under  the  title  of  The 
Bells,  by  T.  B.  A. 

The  volume  was  well  received  by  the  critics,  and  al- 
though there  was  not  much  money  in  it  to  either  author  oi 
publisher,  there  was  no  loss. 

An  amusing  incident  occurred  just  after  the  publica- 
tion of  The  Bells.  A gentleman  friend  of  the  author,  in 
order  to  get  up  a boom  in  the  interest  of  the  book,  called 
at  different  bookstores  and  found  they  had  no  copies  of  the 
book  for  sale.  On  his  way  down  town  the  next  day,  he  called 
again  on  the  same  booksellers,  who  promised  to  lay  in 
supplies,  as  a favorable  notice  of  the  book  had  appeared  in 
the  Tribune  and  the  Evening  Mirror. 

On  the  following  day,  he  surprised  the  clerk  in  one  of 
the  stores,  by  telling  him  he  wanted  twelve  or  fifteen  cop- 
ies. The  offer  was  made  to  send  for  them  the  next  day, 
but  the  zealous  friend  said  that  would  not  do,  as  he  wished 
to  write  on  the  fly-leaf  of  each  book  and  send  them  all  by 
express  that  afternoon. 

While  they  were  talking,  the  proprietor  of  the  store, 
who  had  heard  the  conversation,  came  forward,  and  said 
there  were  ten  or  twelve  copies  under  the  counter.  There 
was  nothing  else  to  do,  but  to  buy  the  books.  The  young 
poet  in  relating  this  incident  to  me,  afterwards  said  that  his 
friend  never  before  had  so  much  of  one  thing  that  he 
■wanted  so  little  of. 

Young  AldriclTs  next  poem  had  an  interesting  history. 
It  was  called  the  Ballad  of  Baby  Bell.  The  author  at  that 
time  was  only  nineteen  years  old.  He  sent  it  to  the  Knich - 
erbocher  Magazine , and  to  several  other  leading  periodicals, 
and  finally  to  the  Journal  of  Commerce,  that  great  com- 
mercial paper  which  is  found  in  the  counting-room  of  all 
the  leading  wholesale  merchants  and  men  of  finance. 

The  young  poet  soon  after  received  a note  from  the 
editor,  Mr.  David  M.  Stone,  enclosing  five  dollars,  and 


THOMAS  BAILEY  ALDRICH. 


229 


saying,  that,  as  a rule,  he  did  not  buy  poetry  for  the 
columns  of  the  Journal,  that  commodity  not  being  adapted 
to  its  commercial  columns,  but  he  further  wrote,  “ I like 
the  poem* so  much,  I will  print  it.”  Aldrich  could  easily 
sell  such  a poem  now  for  a thousand  dollars.  The  story  of 
the  exquisite  Ballad  of  Baby  Bell  is  founded  on  fact,  the 
beautiful  child  being  a near  relative  of  the  author. 

Young  Aldrich  was  at  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  his  native 
place,  preparing  for  college,  when  the  death  of  his  father 
necessitated  other  arrangements.  He  was  then  placed  by 
his  uncle,  the  late  Charles  L.  Frost,  of  the  firm  of  Frost  & 
Forrest,  commission  merchants,  in  their  counting-room  in 
New  York.  But  the  drudgery  of  mercantile  life  did  not 
suit  Iris  poetical  fancy,  his  taste  not  being  adapted  to  “ the 
sugar  trade  and  cotton  line.” 

The  Ballad  of  Baby  Bell  and  other  Poems  was  publish- 
ed in  1856  by  G.  W.  Carleton.  The  volume  became  very 
popular  and  is  now*  included  in  a beautifully  illustrated 
collection  of  the  author's  complete  poetical  writings  just 
published  by  Houghton,  Mifflin  & Co. 

On  its  first  appearance,  the  poem  having  attracted  the 
attention  of  Mr.  Frederick  S.  Cozzens,  (whose  Sparrow- 
grass  Papers  I had  recently  published,)  he  made  an  ap- 
pointment with  the  young  poet  to  come  to  his  place  of 
business  in  Warren  St.,  and  meet  Fitz  Greene  Halleck,  who 
had  read  the  poem,  and  had  written  to  Mr.  Cozzens,  ex- 
pressing a desire  to  know  the  autlio  . Aldrich  said  that 
Halleck  was  most  delightfully  kind  and  complimentary. 

Mr.  Aldrich's  next  venture  was  a novelette  entitled 
“ Daisy's  Necklace  and  what  came  of  it.”  This  was  pub- 
lished by  my  then  firm  in  1856,  and  as  Mr.  Aldrich 
was  becoming  favorably  known  as  an  author,  I thought 
there  was  little  risk  in  printing  two  thousand  copies.  It 
was  a taking  title,  sufficiently  happy  I thought,  to  sell  that 
number  of  copies  ; and  had  previously  been  printed  as  a 
serial  in  The  Home  Journal.  The  book  was  a failure,  but 
it  is  fair  to  admit  the  author  had  little  confidence  in  its 


230 


THOMAS  BAILEY  ALDRICH. 


success.  We  managed  to  sell  about  one  half  the  edition, 
the  remainder  we  sold  to  a neighboring  publisher,  for  a 
nominal  sum. 

The  purchaser  bound  the  copies  up  with  another  work 
of  the  same  size  entitled  “ The  Stain  of  Birth,"  and  letter- 
ed the  volume,  “ The  Stain  of  Birth  and  Daisy’s  Necklace.” 
Mr.  Aldrich  picked  up  the  volume  one  day  on  a bookstand 
and  his  disgust  at  finding  himself  in  such  company  was 
unbounded.  I explained  to  him  that  it  was  one  of  the 
Dollar  Gift  bookstore  dodges,  the  proprietors  of  which 
were  constantly  buying  remainders  and  when  the  volumes 
were  too  thin  to  bring  a dollar,  would  bind  two  or  three 
volumes  together  ; this  was  the  last  of  “ Daisy’s  Necklace” 
and  what  came  of  it. 

Soon  after  this,  young  Aldrich  decided  to  retire  from 
mercantile  life  and  embark  in  literature  as  a business.  He 
was  first  engaged  to  write  literary  notices  in  The  New  York 
Evening  Mirror , at  that  time  a fashionable  afternoon 
paper,  conducted  by  Hiram  Fuller,  the  author  of  the  vol- 
ume Belle  Britain.  He  died  not  long  ago  in  London, 
where  he  was  conducting  The  Metropolitan,  a weekly  news- 
paper. 

After  this  Mr.  Aldrich  engaged  with  my  firm  as  a 
reader  of  MSS.  and  other  literary  work.  About  this  time, 
he  sent  some  poems  to  The  Home  Journal,  which  Mr.  N. 
P.  Willis,  the  editor,  introduced  to  its  readers  in  a very 
flattering  manner.  A habit  Mr.  Willis  always  indulged  in, 
when  young  writers  sent  in  contributions  in  prose  or 
poetry,  that  he  really  liked. 

Mr.  Willis  afterwards  suggested  to  his  partner,  Gen. 
Geo.  P.  Morris,  that  it  would  be  a good  idea  for  him  to  see 
young  Aldrich  and  secure  him  if  possible  as  assistant  editor 
of  The  Home  Journal.  Mr.  Morris  acted  upon  this  hint, 
and  soon  after  Mr.  Aldrich  accepted  that  position.  Mr. 
Willis  lived  at  Idle-Wild  and  came  to  the  city  about  twice 
a month. 

The  second  year  Aldrich  was  virtually  editor-in-chief, 


THOMAS  BAILEY  ALDRICH. 


231 


General  Morris  having  gone  South  on  a prolonged  trip. 
Aldrich  was  engaged  on  The  Journal  about  six  months  be- 
fore  he  saw  Mr.  Willis. 

One  day  as  he  sat  in  the  editorial  sanctum,  stretched 
out  on  three  chairs,  each  foot  on  a chair,  placidly  smoking 
a cigar  and  lazily  looking  over  the  exchanges,  he  was 
startled  by  the  sudden  appearance  of  a tall,  pleasant  look- 
ing gentleman,  who  said,  “Is  this  Mr.  Aldrich?  My  name 
is  Willis." 

The  young  autocrat  of  an  editor  was  very  much  embar- 
rassed for  the  moment,  but  the  famous  poet,  who  was  a man 
of  the  world,  took  the  situation  in  at  once,  and  soon  put 
him  entirely  at  ease.  In  less  than  five  minutes,  the  young 
editor  felt  as  if  he  had  known  the  editor-in-chief  all  his 
life. 

The  desk  at  which  Mr.  Aldrich  wrote  while  with  the 
Home  Journal,  was  at  one  time  used  by  James  Aldrich, 
another  poet,  but  no  relation.  It  had  been  previously 
occupied  by  Edgar  Allen  Poe  and  by  James  Parton,  who 
afterwards  married  Mr.  Willis’  sister,  Fanny  Fern.  It 
is  a curious  fact  and  a tradition  in  the  Home  Journal  office, 
that  the  same  desk  should  have  been  occupied  by  these 
three  distinguished  authors,  Poe,  Parton,  and  Aldrich.  In 
a recent  number  of  the  Home  Journal,  a writer  who  was 
an  attache  of  the  paper  at  the  time  of  AldriclPs  sub-editor- 
ship, thus  speaks  of  him  : 

“Aldrich  was  proud  and  of  an  independent  spirit.  He  hated 
cant  and  humbug;  was  genial,  affable,  considerate  of  the  rights 
and  feelings  of  others,  frank,  out-spoken;  and  to  a fault  was  he 
generous  in  his  dealings  with  everybody.  It  is  not  surprising  that 
a man  with  such  traits,  backed  with  a love  of  truth,  and  with  his 
refined  poetic  temperament,  made  many  friends  and  kept  them. 
All  of  those  who  worked  at  neighboring  desks  with  Bailey 
Aldrich  in  the  beginning  of  his  career  are  rejoiced  at  his  advance^ 
ment  in  the  world  of  letters, and  in  worldly  matters.” 

Mr.  Aldrich  remained  on  the  Home  Journal  about  three; 
years,  when  he,  with  some  young  literary  associates,  be- 


232 


THOMAS  BAILEY  ALDRICH. 


came  proprietors  of  a new  paper  called  the  Saturday  Press , 
Henry  Clapp,  who  was  a man  well-known  at  the  time  in 
journalistic  circles,  was  editor  in  chief.  Among  the  asso- 
ciates were  Charles  F.  Brown  (“Artemus  Ward”),  Fitz- 
James  O’Brien,  George  Arnold,  Edward  Wilkins  and  Wil- 
liam Winter,  all  of  whom  are  dead  except  the  latter,  who 
is  at  the  present  time  the  brilliant  editor  of  the  dramatic 
department  of  the  New  York  Tribune. 

Thore  were  about  twenty  young  literary  people  con- 
nected with  the  Saturday  Press.  There  was  no  cash  book 
or  other  account  books  kept,  thus  avoiding  the  expense  of 
a book-keeper.  Whatever  money  was  received  went  into 
the  hands  of  whichever  proprietor  happened  to  be  in  the 
office  at  the  time.  Mr.  Aldrich  once  told  me  that  Mr. 
Clapp  could  not  sleep  in  the  morning,  while  he,  being 
young  and  in  excellent  health,  slept  until  about  nine 
o’clock.  Through  this  habit  he  got  little  or  nothing  of 
the  money  which  came  in  for  advertisements,  as  Mr.  Clapp, 
being  the  first  on  hand,  confiscated  the  receipts. 

Soon  after  this,  Mr.  Aldrich  became  connected  with 
the  Atlantic  Monthly,  as  a contributor,  and  was  shortly 
considered  as  a permanent  member  of  the  staff.  At  that 
time  Phillips,  Sampson  & Co.  were  the  publishers  of  this 
great  magazine  and  James  Russell  Lowell  editor-in-chief. 
Mr.  Aldrich  has  in  his  possession  a very  complimentary  let- 
ter from  the  latter,  accepting  his  first  contribution. 

On  Mr.  Lowell’s  retirement,  Mr.  James  T.  Fields,  who 
had  become  one  of  the  publishers  of  the  Atlantic  Monthly , 
on  the  failure  of  its  founders,  in  1857,  became  also  editor- 
in-chief. 

Mr.  W.  D.  Howells,  the  now  popular  novelist,  was  made 
assistant  editor  in  1866,  and  subsequently  succeeded  Mr. 
Fields,  as  principal  editor.  Mr.  Howells  retired  in  1880, 
and  for  the  past  four  years  this  great  exponent  of  the 
best  literature  of  the  day,  now  the  property  of  its  present 
publishers,  Houghton,  Mifflin  & Co.,  has  been  under  the 
exclusive  editorial  control  of  Mr.  Aldrich. 


THOMAS  BAILEY  ALDRICH. 


233 


One  of  Mr.  Aldrich’s  clever  successes  was  the  Persian 
poem,  which  G.  W.  Carleton  published,  entitled  “The 
Course  of  True  Love  never  did  run  Smooth.”  I once  asked 
Mr.  Aldrich  the  origin  of  Mr.  Carleton’s  trade-mark,  which 
then  first  appeared  on  the  title-page  of  that  book.  He  told 
me  it  was  found  looking  through  an  illustrated  edition  of 
Lane’s  Arabian  Nights,  where  they  were  searching  for 
emblem  and  devices  with  which  to  decorate  the  book,  and 
among  the  rest  was  a little  Arabic  word  which  was  placed 
on  the  title-page  for  ornament.  Neither  author  or  publish- 
er knew  its  meaning  at  the  time,  but  it  proved  to  be  the 
Arabic  for  “ books.” 

Mr.  Aldrich’s  “ Story  of  a Bad  Boy,”  has  been  the  most 
popular  of  all  his  writings.  It  has  already  passed  through 
twenty-three  large  editions.  The  book  gives  a very  faith- 
ful account  of  the  author’s  school  days.  There  is  very  lit- 
tle invention  in  the  story.  It  is  indeed  a history  of  his 
own  career,  some  of  the  lesser  details  and  the  names  only 
being  fictitious.  Most  of  the  localities  described  were 
scenes  of  his  chidhood,  and  the  people  who  figure  in  it 
were  his  neighbors  and  well  known  towns  people. 

All  Mr.  Aldrich’s  books,  whether  prose  or  poetry,  have 
a steady  and  increasing  sale. 

In  one  of  Nathaniel  Hawthorne’s  letters  the  following 
passage  occurs.  Such  a tribute,  from  such  a source,  is 
praise  indeed:  “I  have  been  reading  some  of  Aldrich’s 
poems  this  evening,  and  find  them  rich,  sweet  and  im- 
aginative in  such  a degree  that  I am  sorry  not  to  have 
fresher  sympathies,  in  order  to  taste  all  the  delight  that 
every  reader  ought  to  draw  from  them.  I was  conscious, 
here  and  there,  of  a delicacy  that  I hardly  dared  to  breathe 
upon.” 

The  recent  elegant  edition  of  Mr.  Aldrich’s  Poetical 
Works,  which  is  so  exquisitely  illustrated  by  the  Paint  and 
Clay  Club,  is  open  before  me  as  I write.  It  is  the  perfec- 
tion of  typography  and  binding,  never  yet  surpassed  by  the 
Riverside  Press , from  whence  it  comes.  I read  inscribed 


234 


THOMAS  BAILEY  ALDRICH. 


on  the  title-page,  “ To  J.  C.  Derby,  my  early  friend  and 
first  publisher.  T.  B.  Aldrich  ." 

Surely  no  more  acceptable  memento  could  have  been 
given  me  than  this  token  of  remembrance  from  the  Poet- 
Editor,  whom  I first  met  thirty  years  ago. 

The  following  lyric  from  Mr.  Aldrich’s  collection  of 
poems,  entitled,  “Flower  and  Thorn,”  is  an  excellent 
example  of  his  lighter  manner  : 

NOCTURNE. 

“Up  to  her  chamber  window 
A slight  wire  trellis  goes, 

And  up  this  Romeo’s  ladder 
Clambers  a bold  white  rose. 

“I  lounge  in  the  ilex  shadows, 

I see  the  lady  lean, 

Unclasping  her  silken  girdle, 

The  curtain’s  folds  between. 

“ She  smiles  on  her  white  rose  lover, 

She  reaches  out  her  hand, 

And  helps  him  in  at  the  window — 

I see  it  where  I stand ! 

“To  her  scarlet  lip  she  holds  him, 

And  kisses  him  many  a time — 

Ah,  me ! it  was  he  that  won  her 
Because  he  dared  to  climb  I’* 


GEORGE  W.  CARLETON. 


Publisher , Author  and  Artist — Two  Little  Cherubs  with  a 
big  load  to  carry — Immortalization  of  Miss  Flora 
McFlimsey , of  Madison  Square — Authorship  dis- 
puted— Carleton  adds  fuel  to  the  fire — Professsor 
Ingraham's  Tragic  Death — Publishes  Aldrich's  “ True 
Love,"  and  finds  his  Trade-mark — Victor  Hugo's  i(Les 
Miserables,"  and  Michelet's  Translations — Carleton 
in  the  Crockery  business  — Artemus  Ward  takes 
Brandy  and  Water — Lecture  to  Brigham  Young  and 
One  Wife — Enormous  sale  of  Josh  Billings'  Alminax . 


EORGE  W.  CARLETON  may  fairly  be  classed 
” among  the  book-publishers  of  our  day  who  have  suc- 
ceeded in  their  career,  without  what  is  called  any  experi- 
ence in  “learning  the  trade."  In  this  respect,  his  busi- 
ness start  was  not  unlike  that  of  Daniel  Appleton,  Robert 
Carter  and  Charles  Scribner,  whose  names  have  been  so 
familiar  to  the  reading  public  for  nearly  half  a century. 
Moreover,  he  has  the  advantage  over  other  publishers,  of 
being  an  Author  himself,  and  an  Artist,  and  a clever  one, 
too,  in  illustrating  his  own  books,  chiefly  of  Travel  in 
nearly  all  parts  of  the  world. 

George  W.  Carleton  is  a native  of  New  York  City,  and 
was  educated  at  the  Institution  of  the  celebrated  Fran- 
cis L.  Hawks,  D.  D.,  Principal  of  St.  Thomas  Hall,  at 
Flushing,  L.  I.;  but  his  earliest  business  education  was 
with  the  firm  of  Burnham,  Plumb  & Co.,  at  one  time  about 

[2351 


236 


GEORGE  W.  CARLETON. 


the  largest  and  most  important  importing  and  commission 
house  in  New  York  City. 

It  was  when  quite  a young  man,  and  employed  in 
this  importing  house,  that  during  his  leisure  hours  his 
talent  for  drawing  was  utilized  in  designing  illustrations 
for  some  of  the  humorous  papers  and  periodicals  of  the 
day;  among  others,  “The  Lantern,”  edited  by  John 
Brougham,  the  actor,  “ The  Picayune,”  edited  by  Chas.  E. 
Wilbour,  “ The  Young  America,”  edited  by  T.  W.  Strong, 
etc.,  for  which  amateur  work  he  received  a very  good  in- 
come. Some  of  his  designs  attracting  the  attention  of  Mr. 
George  Merriam  (who  had  already  heard  something  of 
young  Carleton’s  talent),  he  asked  him  one  day  to  design 
for  his  Publishing  House,  an  appropriate  illustration  for  a 
heading  to  an  advertisement  of  Webster’s  Unabridged 
Dictionary.  This  artistic  effort  was  successful,  and  many 
of  my  readers  will  remember  the  two  little  cherubs  nearly 
weighed  down,  carrying  a big  book  which  was  much 
larger  than  themselves.  Mr.  Carleton’s  compensation  for 
this  artistic  effort  was  a copy  of  “ Webster’s  Unabridged 
Dictionary,”  in  full  Russia  binding. 

In  the  year  1857,  Mr.  Carleton  began  the  publishing 
business,  under  the  firm  of  Rudd  & Carleton.  Mr.  Edward 
P.  Rudd,  as  well  as  his  father,  Rev.  George  R.  Rudd,  were 
both  connected  with  me  in  business,  while  I was  a resident 
of  Auburn.  Edward  P.  Rudd  died  in  the  year  1861,  and 
Mr.  Carleton  thenceforward  continued  the  business  alone. 

One  of  his  very  earliest  publications  was  that  celebrated 
society  poem,  by  William  Allen  Butler,  then  and  now  a 
distinguished  lawyer  of  New  York,  entitled  “ Nothing  to 
Wear.”  Mr.  Carleton  at  first  made  designs  for  illus- 
trations of  the  volume,  but  finally  turned  them  over  to 
his  friend,  the  artist  Augustus  Hoppin,  who  made  the 
drawings  upon  wood.  The  book  became  immensely  pop- 
ular, and  although  it  was  issued  in  the  panic  year  of 
1857,  amidst  the  breaking  of  banks  and  commercial 
houses,  it  had  a large  and  continued  sale.  Thus  was 


GEORGE  W.  CARLETON. 


237 


immortalized,  “Miss  Flora  McFlimsey,  of  Madison 
Square/’  who 

“Spent  six  consecutive  weeks  without  stopping, 

In  one  continuous  round  of  shopping  ; 

Shopping  alone,  and  shopping  together 

At  all  hours  of  the  day,  and  in  all  sorts  of  weather, 

For  all  manner  of  things  a woman  can  put 
On  the  crown  of  her  head  or  the  sole  of  her  foot, 

Or  wrap  round  her  shoulders  or  fix  round  her  waist, 

Or  that  can  be  sewed  on,  or  pinned  on,  or  laced, 

Or  tied  on  with  a string,  or  stitched  on  with  a bow, 

In  front  or  behind — above  or  below  : 

For  bonnets,  mantillas,  capes,  collars  and  shawls  ; 

Dresses  for  breakfasts,  and  dinners,  and  balls  ; 

Dresses  to  sit  in,  and  stand  in,  and  walk  in  ; 

Dresses  to  dance  in,  and  flirt  in,  and  talk  in  ; 

Dresses  in  which  to  do  nothing  at  all  ; 

Dresses  for  winter,  spring,  summer  and  fall  ; 

All  of  them  different  in  color  and  pattern, 

Silk,  muslin  and  lace,  crape,  velvet  and  satin.” 

Soon  after  the  publication  of  “Nothing  to  Wear,”  a 
curious  claim  was  made  by  a Miss  Peck,  a daughter  of  an 
Episcopal  clergyman,  of  Greenwich,  Conn.,  as  to  the 
authorship.  She  asserted  in  the  public  prints  and  else- 
where that  she  herself  was  the  authoress  of  the  then  cele- 
brated poem,  that  she  lost  it  during  one  of  her  shopping 
excursions  in  a Madison  Avenue  stage,  where  it  was  prob- 
ably found  by  Mr.  Butler.  A controversy  ensued,  which 
of  course  increased  the  sale  of  the  book.  In  order  to  add 
fuel  to  the  flame  Mr.  Carleton  offered  Mortimer  M.  Thom- 
son, who  had  become  a very  popular  writer  under  the 
nom  de  plume  of  “Doesticks,”  one  dollar  a line  for  a 
humorous  poem  on  the  subject  in  question  ; the  offer  was 
accepted,  and  in  less  than  a week  the  author  received  from 
the  publisher  a check  for  eight  hundred  dollars,  for  eight 
hundred  lines,  making  four  times  as  much  material  as  the 
poem  in  question,  having  as  its  title  “ Nothing  to  Say,” 
which  was  something  of  a misnomer.  The  book  was  illus- 


238 


GEORGE  W.  CARLETON. 


trated  by  John  McLenan,  who,  at  that  time,  was  one  of 
our  most  popular  comic  artists.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to 
add  that  this  book  also  had  an  immense  sale. 

A quarter  of  a century  ago,  Professor  J.  H.  Ingraham 
was  a most  popular  writer  of  sensational  novels  of  the  day, 
many  of  them  being  of  what  was  called  “ yellow-covered 
literature.”  He  had  written,  however,  a more  pretentious 
so-called  religious  novel  entitled  “ The  Prince  of  the  House 
of  David.”  It  seemed  to  have  struck  a popular  chord 
among  the  lovers  of  religious  fiction,  as  nearly  a quarter  of 
a million  copies  were  sold.  He  had  suddenly  become  of 
great  repute  among  publishers,  and  a manuscript  by  him, 
complete,  would  have  been  readily  accepted  at  a large 
price.  He  went  to  Mr.  Carleton,  proposing  a new  book, 
for  which  he  wanted  about  ten  thousand  dollars — one-third 
of  which  to  be  paid  in  advance,  and  the  balance  after  the 
book  was  published.  Upon  further  inquiry  concerning 
the  nature  of  the  book,  Mr.  Carleton  learned  that  not  one 
word  of  it  had  been  written  ; Professor  Ingraham,  however, 
proposed  to  commence  it  at  once,  and  finish  it  as  soon  as 
he  arrived  at  his  home  in  Louisiana,  where  he  was  the  rec- 
tor of  an  Episcopal  Church.  “ But  suppose  you  don’t  live 
to  complete  or  even  begin  the  work,”  asked  Mr.  Carleton, 
“ what  then  about  my  three  thousand  three  hundred  and 
thirty-three  dollars  ?”  A satisfactory  reply  not  being  given, 
Mr.  Carleton,  of  course,  declined  the  proposition.  Profes- 
sor Ingraham  returned  home,  and  one  afternoon,  within 
three  days  after  his  arrival,  while  changing  his  coat,  a 
pistol  dropped  from  his  pocket,  exploded,  and  shot  him 
dead  upon  the  spot.  Not  one  word  of  the  new  book  had 
been  written  ! 

Two  more  of  Mr.  Carleton’s  authors  met  with  tragic 
deaths.  Mansfield  T.  Walworth,  son  of  the  well-known 
Chancellor  Walworth,  of  Saratoga,  and  author  of 
({ Warwick”  and  other  novels,  was  shot  and  instantly 
killed  by  his  son,  at  Leland’s  Hotel,  in  New  York ; and 
the  other,  Mrs.  Julie  P.  Smith,  author  of  ‘‘Widow 


GEORGE  W.  CARLETON. 


239 


Goldsmith's  Daughter  " and  other  popular  novels.  I had 
met  Mrs.  Smith,  three  winters  previous,  in  New  Orleans, 
where  her  husband  had  a business  house,  and  was  much 
impressed  with  her  intelligence  and  bright  conversational 
powers.  In  June,  1883,  while  driving  from  her  summer 
residence  in  New  Hartford,  Conn.,  to  the  depot  for  her  hus- 
band, her  horse  suddenly  started  by  the  road-side,  throw- 
ing her  out  of  the  carriage,  and  killing  her  instantly. 

It  goes  without  saying,  among  those  familiar  with 
Book-selling,  that  Mr.  Carleton  has  been  the  largest  pub- 
lisher of  sensational  books  by  native  American  authors  in 
this  country ; and,  having  been  identified  with  nearly  all  of 
the  American  Comic  Writers  of  the  period,  his  store  has 
generally  been  the  rallying  place  of  many  of  the  brightest 
and  most  popular  humorous  men  of  the  day,  such  as  Fitz- 
James  O'Brien,  Charles  G.  Halpine  (“Miles  O’Reilly"), 
Charles  F.  Briggs  (“Harry Franco"),  Richard  H.  Stoddard 
Charles  F.  Brown  (“  Artemus  Ward  "),  Frank  B.  Good- 
rich, (“Dick  Tinto"),  Thomas  Bailey  Aldrich,  Robert  H. 
Newell  (“Orpheus  C.  Kerr"),  Mortimer  M.  Thomson, 
(“  Doesticks"),  Henry  W.  Shaw  (“Josh  Billings"),  Frank 
Bellew  the  artist,  and  above  all,  that  famous  King  of  all 
Bohemia,  Henry  Clapp,  Jr.  ; and  the  noonday  hour  fre- 
quently found  most  of  them  at  PfafPs  celebrated  German 
restaurant,  in  a Broadway  basement,  near  Bleecker-street, 
the  rendezvous  at  that  day  of  the  so-called  Bohemians. 

Almost  the  very  first  of  Mr.  Carleton's  publications  was 
T.  B.  Aldrich's  little  poem,  entitled  “ The  Course  of  True 
Love  never  did  Run  Smooth."  Mr.  Carleton  being  a Trav- 
eller and  somewhat  familiar  with  the  Arabic  language,  dis- 
covered, in  searching  with  Aldrich,  for  illustrations  wr 
to  this  book,  this  strange  looking  symbol,  so  well-  1 l y 
known  on  the  Carleton  title-pages  and  advertise- 
ments. It  is,  in  fact,  an  Arabic  word  signifying  Books. 

Among  the  most  popular  works  published  by  Mr.  Carle- 
ton were  the  translations  from  the  French  of  Michelet  and 
Victor  Hugo.  The  earlier  book  by  the  first  author. 


240 


GEORGE  W.  CARLETON. 


“ L’Amour,”  met  with  immense  success,  and  when  the 
same  author’s  new  book  “ La  Femme  ” was  written,  in  order 
to  supply  the  early  demand  for  the  same,  Mr.  Carleton 
engaged  Dr.  John  W.  Palmer,  one  of  the  best  French 
scholars  of  the  day,  to  translate  the  work,  for  which  he 
was  to  receive  one  thousand  dollars,  the  translator  agreeing 
to  forfeit  ten  dollars  per  hour,  if  delayed  beyond  the  seventy- 
two  hours  in  which  it  was  agreed  to  be  delivered  to  Carle- 
ton,  completely  ready  for  the  compositors  and  printers. 
The  four  hundred  and  fifty  solid  pages  of  the  MS.  trans- 
lation were  delivered  according  to  the  contract.  The  book 
was  stereotyped,  printed  and  bound  and  nearly  twenty 
thousand  copies  sold  in  less  than  thirty  days  ; this  was  truly 
a great  feat  in  book-making. 

The  next  successful  venture  was  Victor  Hugo’s  “ Les 
Miserables,”  and  although  we  were  in  the  midst  of  the  Civil 
War,  the  book  made  a great  hit.  It  was  brought  out 
with  the  same  expedition  as  were  Michelet’s  books,  one  vol- 
ume at  a time.  The  sale  was  not  large  at  first,  but  the 
newspaper  critics  soon  made  it  popular.  Carleton  spent 
ten  thousand  dollars  in  specially  advertising  it.  He  soon 
felt  the  effects  of  his  enterprise  in  the  extraordinary  demand 
for  hundreds  of  thousands  of  volumes.  At  the  book  Trade- 
sale  of  George  A.  Leavitt  & Co.,  one  wholesale  dealer  pur- 
chased twenty-five  thousand  copies, — the  largest  sale,  it  is 
believed,  ever  made  at  auction  of  any  one  book. 

In  this  connection  a curious  incident  occurred.  The 
immense  popularity  of  “ Les  Miserables”  had  attracted  the 
attention  of  a Cuban,  who  called  upon  Mr.  Carleton  one 
day  and  proposed  to  purchase  an  edition  of  the  work  if 
rendered  into  the  Spanish  language,  the  books  to  be  ship- 
ped to  Havana.  The  Cuban  proposed  to  pay  part  of  the 
cost  in  advance  and  the  remainder  on  the  delivery  of  the 
books.  Carleton  fulfilled  his  part  of  the  contract,  when 
the  Cuban  directed  that  the  books  should  be  sent  down 
town,  where  he  desired  them  packed  in  hogsheads.  This 
extraordinary  proposition  aroused  Mr.  Carleton’s  suspi- 


GEORGE  W.  CARLETOTT. 


241 


cions.  He  at  once  demanded  the  balance  of  the  money  due 
or  return  of  portion  of  stock.  The  latter  request  was  more 
than  fulfilled.  One  can  imagine  Mr.  Carleton’s  surprise 
when  the  drayman  brought  to  his  store  sixteen  hogsheads  ! 
He  had  them  stored,  expecting  daily  to  hear  from  the  Cu- 
ban, who  did  not  put  in  an  appearance,  however.  The 
hogsheads  were  then  opened  one  after  another,  when  it  was 
found  that  Victor  Hugo’s  novel  was  the  inside  layer  in  each 
hogshead,  which  was,  at  each  end,  packed  with  glass  lamp- 
chimneys!  Thus  Mr.  Carleton  became  an  involuntary 
glassware  merchant,  spending  a good  deal  of  his  time  in 
selling  lamp-chimneys.  He  realized,  however,  enough 
from  them  to  remunerate  him  for  the  cost  of  the  books. 
The  Cuban,  who  Mr.  Carleton  says,  was  a fierce,  piratical 
looking  customer,  was  never  agaiu  heard  of.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  this  enterprising  Spanish  merchant  took  this 
method  of  smuggling  the  books  into  Havana,  because  the 
importation  of  Victor  Hugo’s  works  had  been  interdicted 
by  the  Spanish  government. 

The  next  of  French  publications  which  Mr.  Carleton 
undertook  to  introduce  to  the  American  public,  were  the 
entire  novels  of  the  celebrated  Balzac,  translated  by  Frank 
B.  Goodrich,  well  known  as  the  author  of  the  “ Court  of 
Napoleon,”  and  other  popular  works.  Mr.  Goodrich  was  a 
son  of  “ Peter  Parley,”  and  had  recently  been  the  Paris 
correspondent  of  the  New  York  Times , under  the  nom  de 
plume  of  “Dick  Tinto.”  The  work  was  well  done  and  al- 
though Balzac  was  the  most  popular  novelist  in  France, 
and  is  even  now  talked  of  as  the  greatest  French  novelist, 
the  books  proved  a failure.  After  publishing  four  volumes, 
it  was  evident  that  Balzac  was  not  adapted  to  the  taste  of 
American  readers,  so  Mr.  Carleton,  after  losing  consider- 
able money,  relinquished  the  undertaking. 

Soon  after  this  the  New  York  Tribune  appeared  one 
morning  with  a bright,  amusing  and  spirited  poem,  entitled 
“The  Diamond  Wedding,”  by  E.  C,  Stedman.  It  was  re- 
produced in  book  form  by  Mr.  Carleton,  with  humorous 


242 


GEORGE  W.  CARLETON. 


illustrations,  and  very  soon  became  the  talk  of  the  hour. 
A further  account  of  this  book  will  be  found  elsewhere. 

Mr.  Carleton  next  made  another  great  and  enduring  hit 
in  the  publication  of  “ Artemus  Ward — His  Book.”  More 
than  forty  thousand  copies  were  sold  within  six  months 
after  its  issue.  My  readers  will  remember  the  humorous 
lectures  of  Mr.  Charles  Brown  (“  Artemus  Ward”),  which 
became  so  popular  throughout  the  country,  and  soon  placed 
him  at  the  front  of  the  humorists  of  the  day.  A little  in- 
cident is  told  of  him,  during  the  days  of  his  great  popular- 
ity. He  was  puffing  away  at  a cigar  in  Mr.  Carleton^s 
private  office,  when  a telegram  was  handed  him  from  San 
Francisco,  wired  by  Maguire,  the  manager  of  the  Opera 
House  of  that  city,  who  inquired,  “ What  will  you  take 
for  two  nights  in  California  ?”  Brown  immediately  re- 
plied by  the  same  messenger,  without  altering  his  position 
on  the  sofa,  “Brandy  and  water. — A.  Ward.”  But  he  did 
take  something  else  after  all,  in  the  shape  of  a large  sum 
of  money  from  his  California  audiences,  where  he  lec- 
tured with  pronounced  success.  The  funny  dispatch 
having  been  previously  printed  in  the  California  papers, 
made  everybody  laugh,  and  all  wanted  to  hear  him.  When 
Artemus  Ward  was  in  Utah  lecturing,  some  one  spoke 
to  him  about  giving  a pass  to  Brigham  Young.  He  im- 
mediately wrote  a pass,  admitting  “ Brigham  Young  and 
One  Wife.” 

Among  other  anecdotes  that  Mr.  Carleton  relates  about 
his  comic  authors,  is,  that  Charles  H.  Webb  (“  John 
Paul  ”)  characteristically  added  on  the  title-page  of  one  of 
his  burlesques,  “ Author  of  John  Paul  Sketches,  and  other 
books  too  Mmorous  to  mention.” 

Almost  every  newspaper  in  the  country,  publishes  fre- 
quently some  of  the  quaint  sayings  of  “Josh  Billings,” 
whose  real  name  is  Henry  W.  Shaw  ; the  latter  says,  speak- 
ing of  his  success  as  an  author,  that  he  failed  to  succeed 
until  he  commenced  to  spell  his  words  ^correctly ; then 
his  wise  and  sententious  sayings  became  immensely  popu- 


GEORGE  W.  CARLETON. 


243 


lar.  His  jokes  are  always  to  the  point,  although  told  in  a 
humorous  vein.  A volume  has  been  published  by  Mr. 
Carleton,  entitled  “The  Life  and  Adventures  of  Josh 
Billings,”  appropriately  illustrated,  including  many  of  his 
quaint  sayings.  A curious  commercial  success  was  Mr.* 
Carleton’s  publication  of  “Josh  Billings’  Farmer’s  Al- 
minax,”  by  which  he  intended  to  burlesque  the  old  fash- 
ioned  Farmers’  Almanac  in  vogue  half  a century  ago.  Mr. 
Carleton  first  tested  the  market  with  only  one  thousand 
copies,  which  sold  but  slowly ; then  two  thousand  more 
were  printed,  then  five  thousand,  and  afterwards  ten  thou- 
sand, until  the  insatiate  public  devoured  one  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  copies  the  first  year  ! Altogether,  more 
than  half  a million  copies  have  been  sold,  bringing  a net 
profit  to  the  publisher  and  author  of  over  thirty  thousand 
dollars. 

Many  of  the  most  popular  American  novels  issued  in 
this  country  are  those  bearing  the  imprint  of  G-.  W.  Carleton 
& Co.  Among  others,  are  the  writings  of  Augusta  Evans 
Wilson,  Mary  J.  Holmes,  M.  Virginia  Terhune,  (“  Ma- 
rion Harland),”  Miriam  C.  Harris,  author  of  “ Rutledge,” 
May  Agnes  Fleming,  Richard  B.  Kimball,  and  “Edmund 
Kirke,”  author  of  “ Among  the  Pines  a history  of 
nearly  all  being  given  elsewhere  in  this  work. 

The  account  already  given  of  Mr.  Carleton’s  successful 
authors,  would  be  incomplete  without  saying  something  of 
our  Artistic  Author-Publisher  himself.  As  previously 
mentioned,  Mr.  Carleton  has  been  a great  traveler,  and 
has  published  no  less  than  three  volumes  of  his  own  adven- 
tures, entitled,  respectively,  “ Our  Artist  in  Cuba.”  “ Our 
Artist  in  Peru,”  and  “ Our  Artist  in  Spain  and  Algiers.” 
In  the  first-named  volume  he  gives  to  the  reader  the  follow- 
ing characteristic  preface  : 

“With  many  misgivings  the  author  of  this  little  brochure  has 
been  persuaded  to  give  the  prominence  of  publication  to  a mere 
pocket-book  collection  of  way-side  pen  and  ink  sketches,  the  chance 
results  of  idle  moments,  sandwiched  with  such  Cuban  events  as 


244 


GEORGE  W.  CARLETON. 


paring  oranges  and  sipping  from  their  cups  of  nectar — tearing 
through  the  narrow  streets  of  Havana  in  ragged  volantes — listen- 
ing in  the  soft  moonlight,  and  arm  in  arm  with  Cuban  senoritas, 
to  the  Artillery  band  in  the  Plaza  de  Armas — assisting  with  do- 
mino and  false  nose  at  the  masquerades  in  the  Tacon  Theatre — 
lounging  with  ices  or  delicious  chocolate  at  the  Cafe  Dominica — 
dallying  with  cigar  and  fragrant  coffee  after  the  regulation  break- 
fast of  codfish,  garlic  and  onions — snuffing  up  the  perfumed  air 
strolling  through  the  golden  orange  groves  of  Gafetals , joining  in 
the  battle,  murder  and  sudden  death  of  Marianao  cock  fights, 
vagabondizing  along  the  shady  side  of  Calle  Obispo,  and  so  forth, 
through  all  the  dolce  f ar  nientes  of  a stranger’s  drifting  life,  among 
the  lights  and  shadows  of  the  Antilles’  Queen.  The  only  merit 
the  pictures  possess,  perhaps,  is  their  faithfulness  to  nature;  though 
chiefly  caricatures,  they  present  such  incidents  and  scenes  as  every 
one,  with  both  eyes  open,  sees,  who  visits  Cuba,  and  being  sketch- 
ed upon  the  spot  with  all  the  crispy  freshness  of  a first  impres- 
sion, they  possess  a sort  of  photographic  value,  that  in  spite  of 
their  grotesqueness,  may  prove  more  lasting  than  the  entertain- 
ment which  their  humor  offers.” 

The  volumes  consist  chiefly  of  humorous  illustrations, 
drawn  by  Mr.  Carleton  himself,  with  explanatory  notes  ; 
the  whole  being  intended  to  illustrate  the  sights  and  scenes 
of  his  travels,  “all  of  which  he  saw  and  part  of  which  he 
was.”  The  reception  accorded  these  books  by  the  public 
has  been  so  flattering,  that  the  profit  on  their  sales  has 
more  than  reimbursed  the  author  for  all  his  expenses  in 
going  to  and  returning  from  those  far  distant  countries 
and  strange  places. 

The  present  firm  of  G.  W.  Carleton  & Co.  comprises 
both  himself  and  Mr.  George  W.  Dillingham,  formerly 
his  head  clerk  and  for  many  years  connected  with  the  pub- 
lishing house  of  Crosby,  Nichols  & Co.,  of  Boston.  Mr. 
Dillingham’s  experience  in  the  book-selling  business  having 
been  large,  his  admission  to  the  firm  of  G.  W.  Carleton  & 
Co.  has  added  to  the  business  prosperity  which  has  fol- 
lowed this  young  House  ever  since  its  establishment. 


XIII. 

ALICE  AND  PHCEBE  CARY. 

Sweet  and  Musical  Name — Alice  Earns  Her  first  Ten  Dol- 
lars— Pictures  of  Memory — Griswold,  Greeley  and 
Whittier — Noted  Literary  Writers — Reminiscences  of 
Savage  and  Wight — Alice  Gary  Wades  in  Clover — 
Her  Countless  Little  Namesakes — The  Carys  at  a 
Husking  Bee — Phoebe  Gary's  Witticisms — The  Yankee 
in  China — Her  Beautiful  Hymn  “ Nearer  Home  ” — 
Monument  to  the  Cary  Sisters. 

rT''HE  sweet  and  musical  name  of  Alice  Cary  has  for 
years  been  familiar  in  many  of  the  households  of  this 
country.  Not  only  her  poetry,  but  her  prose,  continue  to 
be  read  after  the  lapse  of  so  many  years,  since  her  lamented 
death.  Alice  Cary  began  to  write  under  the  signature  of 
“ Patty  Lee,”  for  the  Washington  Rational  Era,  edited  by 
Dr.  Bailey,  from  whom  she  received  ten  dollars,  the  first 
money  ever  earned  by  her  pen.  That  paper  became  famous 
by  first  publishing  as  a serial  “ Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin”  and 
also  the  first  contributions  of  Gail  Hamilton,  who  has  since 
become  a writer  of  considerable  note. 

It  was  Alice  Cary’s  writings  in  the  Era , for  which  she 
continued  to  be  a regular  contributor,  that  first  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  poet  Whittier.  Through  the  influence 
of  the  late  Bufus  W.  Griswold,  the  first  volume  of  poems 

[245] 


246 


ALICE  AND  PHCEBE  CARY. 


by  Alice  and  Phoebe  Cary  was  published  in  Philadelphia. 
At  the  early  age  of  eighteen  Alice  wrote  the  “ Pictures  of 
Memory  ”■ — copied  below — which  Edgar  Allan  Poe  pro- 
nounced one  of  the  very  finest  poems  produced  in  America. 
I,  with  the  majority  of  Alice  Cary's  friends,  coincide  in  the 
opinion  of  that  eminent  critic.  Alice,  however,  did  not  so 
consider  it ; and,  when  questioned  on  the  subject,  said  that 
she  much  preferred  “ An  Order  for  a Picture.  ” 


PICTURES  OF  MEMORY. 

“ Of  all  the  beautiful  pictures 
That  hang  ou  Memory’s  wall, 

Is  one  of  a dim  old  forest, 

That  seemeth  best  of  all; 

Not  for  its  gnarled  oaks  olden, 

Dark  with  the  mistletoe ; 

Not  for  the  violets  golden, 

That  sprinkle  the  vale  below; 

Not  for  the  milk-white  lilies 

That  lean  from  the  fragrant  hedge, 
Coquetting  all  day  with  the  sunbeams, 

And  stealing  their  golden  edge; 

Not  for  the  vines  on  the  upland, 

Where  the  bright  red  berries  rest; 

Nor  the  pinks,  nor  the  pale,  sweet  cowslip, 
It  seemeth  to  me  the  best. 

“ I once  had  a little  brother, 

With  eyes  that  were  dark  and  deep — 

In  the  lap  of  that  olden  forest 
He  lieth  in  peace  asleep ; 

Light  as  the  down  of  the  thistle, 

Free  as  the  winds  that  blow, 

We  roved  there  the  beautiful  summers, 

The  summers  of  long  ago ; 

But  his  feet  on  the  hills  grew  weary, 

And  one  of  the  autumn  eves 
I made  for  my  little  brother 
A bed  of  the  yellow  leaves. 


ALICE  AND  PHCEBE  CARY. 


247 


“ Sweetly  his  pale  arms  folded 
My  neck  in  a meek  embrace, 

As  the  light  of  immortal  beauty 
Silently  covered  his  face; 

And  when  the  arrows  of  sunset 
Lodged  in  the  tree-tops  bright, 

He  fell,  in  his  saint-like  beauty, 

Asleep  by  the  gates  of  light. 

Therefore,  of  all  the  pictures 
That  hang  on  memory’s  wall, 

The  one  of  the  dim  old  forest 
Seemeth  the  best  of  all.” 

In  the  year  1849  Alice  and  Phoebe  Cary  left  their 
Western  home  on  a visit  to  the  Eastern  cities.  They  had 
already  known  Mr.  Griswold,  by  correspondence  (he  re- 
siding then  in  Philadelphia),  Horace  Greeley  and  John 
G.  Whittier.  The  former  was  their  earliest  friend  and 
devoted  himself  to  their  literary  welfare  until  the  time  of 
his  death. 

In  a volume  of  poems  published  by  Alice  Cary  in  1854, 
she  addresses  him  as  her  “ dear  friend,”  in  the  following 
words : , 


“ TO  RUFUS  WILMOT  GRISWOLD. 

“You  were  the  first  to  praise  my  simple  rhymes,  years  before 
I met  or  dreamed  of  meeting  you ; and  since  we  became  personally 
acquainted  you  have  always  been  ready  to  counsel  and  encourage 
me  in  those  literary  pursuits  to  which  I was  led  by  the  natural 
inclination  of  my  mind,  and  which  at  too  early  an  age,  perhaps, 
I adopted  as  the  principal  means  of  hoped  for  usefulness  and  hap- 
piness. I have  been  pleased,  therefore,  with  the  thought  that  in 
such  an  inscription  as  this,  I might  express  something  of  my  grat- 
itude to  you  and  my  respect  for  you.  I know,  indeed,  that  it  i * 
not  an  unusual  distinction  to  have  been  an  object  of  your  kindly 
interest — that  there  are  many  among  our  young  authors  who  owe 
much  to  your  advice  and  generous  aid — so  that  if  all  who  are  in 
this  way  your  debtors  were  so  to  manifest  their  feelings,  you  would 
be  wearied  with  such  display  of  their  consideration  ; yet  this  is 
the  only  manner  in  which  I can  render  you  homage  which  is  due 


248 


ALICE  AND  PHCEBE  CARY. 


to  your  genius  and  worth,  especially  from  me,  who  am  under  so 
many  obligations  to  you  ; and  I feel  assured  that  you  will  receive 
my  offering  with  as  much  satisfaction  as  if  it  conferred  on  you, 
more  than  on  myself,  a desirable  honor.” 

Horace  Greeley  had  met  the  sisters  in  their  Western 
home  a year  or  so  before  their  trip  to  the  east,  and  was  able 
to  give  them,  on  their  arrival  in  Hew  York,  seeking,  as  they 
were,  opportunity  to  make  a living  by  literature,  some  in- 
telligent and  friendly  advice.  He,  like  Mr.  Griswold,  was 
their  valued  and  trusted  friend  through  their  lives.  He 
thus  wrote  of  the  Cary  Sisters  after  their  literary  venture 
had  proved  a success  : 

“ Gradually  signs  of  thrift  appeared,  and  eventually  they  lived 
in  a house  of  their  own,  not  large  or  showy,  but  comfortable  and 
paid  for  by  the  labor  of  their  hands.  Here  they  received  weekly, 
without  ostentation,  literary  and  artistic  guests  and  dispensed  for 
many  years  a quiet,  inexpensive  hospitality.  Their  parlor  was  not 
so  large  as  some  others,  but  quite  as  neat  and  cheerful,  and  the 
few  literary  persons  or  artists  who  occasionally  met  at  their  infor- 
mal invitation,  to  discuss  with  them  a cup  of  tea  and  the  newest 
books,  poems  and  events,  might  have  found  many  more  preten- 
tious, but  few  more  enjoyable  gatherings.  I have  a dim  recollec- 
tion that  the  first  of  these  little  tea  parties  was  held  up  two  flights 
of  stairs,  in  one  of  the  less  fashionable  sections  of  the  city  ; but 
good  things  were  said  there,  that  I recall  with  pleasure  even  yet, 
while  of  some  of  the  company,  on  whom  I have  not  since  set  eyes, 
I cherish  a pleasant  and  grateful  remembrance.  As  their  circum- 
stances gradually  though  slowly  improved  by  dint  of  diligent  in- 
dustry and  judicious  economy  the  yoccupied  more  eligible  quarters, 
and  the  modest  dwelling  they  have  for  some  years  owned  and  im- 
proved, in  the  very  heart  of  this  emporium,  has  long  been  known 
to  the  literary  guild  as  combining  one  of  the  best  private  libraries 
with  the  sunniest  drawing-room  (even  by  gas-light)  to  be  found 
between  King’s  Bridge  and  the  Battery.” 

Mr.  Whittier,  in  his  own  inimitable  style,  thus  com- 
memorates the  impression  these  western  singers  made  upon 
him,  when  they  first  called  at  his  home  : 


ALICE  AND  PHCEBE  CARY. 


249 


“ THE  SINGERS. 

“ Years  since  (but  names  to  me  before) 

Two  sisters  sought  at  eve  my  door, 

Two  song-birds  wandering  from  their  nest  ; 
A gray  old  farm-house  in  the  West. 

“ Timid  and  young,  the  elder  had 

Even  then  a smile  too  sweetly  sad ; 

The  crown  of  pain  that  all  must  wear 
Too  early  pressed  her  midnight  hair. 

“ Yet,  ere  the  summer  eve  grew  long, 

Her  modest  lips  were  sweet  with  song, 

A memory  haunted  all  her  words 
Of  clover-fields  and  singing  birds. 

“Her  dark,  dilating  eyes  express 
The  broad  horizons  of  the  West; 

Her  speech  dropped  prairie  flowers ; the  gold 
Of  harvest  wheat  about  her  rolled. 

“ Fore-doomed  to  song  she  seemed  to  me; 

I queried  not  with  destiny ; 

I knew  the  trial  and  the  need, 

Yet  all  the  more,  I said,  God  speed  I 

“ What  could  I other  than  I did  ? 

Could  I a singing  bird  forbid  ? 

Deny  the  wind-stirred  leaf?  Rebuke 
The  music  of  the  forest  brook  ? 

“ She  went  with  morning  from  my  door, 

But  left  me  richer  than  before; 
Thenceforth  I knew  her  voice  of  cheer, 

The  welcome  of  her  partial  ear. 

“ Year  passed;  through  all  the  land  her  name 
A pleasant  household  word  became ; 

All  felt  behind  the  singer  stood 
A sweet  and  gracious  womanhood. 


250 


ALICE  AND  PIKE  BE  CARY. 


u Unseen  of  her  her  fair  fame  grew, 

The  good  she  did  she  rarely  knew, 

Unguessed  of  her  in  life  the  love 

That  rained  its  tears  her  grave  above.” 

The  sisters  returned  to  their  western  home  and  made 
final  arrangements  for  a removal  to  New  York,  where  Dr. 
Griswold  had  located  himself,  to  devote  themselves  to  the 
labors  of  their  pen.  The  first  year  of  their  residence  in 
New  York  was  at  the  American  Hotel,  then  kept  by  Daniel 
Bixby,  a former  well-known  book  publisher  from  Lowell. 
His  hotel  had  become  the  resort  of  many  well-known  lit- 
erary people,  among  whom  were  J.  Eenimore  Cooper,  Fitz 
Greene  Halleck,  and  Washington  Irving. 

Here  the  sisters  resided  for  several  months,  and  Mr. 
Bixby  informs  me  led  a very  retiring  life,  constantly 
writing,  and  seeing  but  few  callers.  A few  years  later, 
their  income  from  books  and  contributions  to  various  lit- 
erary periodicals,  had  realized  a sufficient  sum  to  purchase 
a home.  In  the  year  1855,  Mr.  Griswold  brought  to  me  a 
manuscript  novel  entitled  “ Married,  not  Mated,”  by  Alice 
Cary,  which  was  published  the  following  year.  My  acquaint- 
ance with  the  Cary  sisters  began  in  1854,  soon  after  my 
establishing  business  in  New  York,  and  for  many  years  I 
found  their  home  a most  delightful  resort,  meeting  there 
many  of  the  distinguished  people  of  literary  tastes,  among 
others  the  following  : 

Rev.  Rufus  W.  Griswold,  D.  D.,  Robert  Dale  Owen,  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  Anna  Dickinson,  Mr.  & Mrs.  O.  J.  Victor,  Mr.  & Mrs. 
Oliver  Johnson,  Robert  Bonner,  Horace  Greelej7,  Frank  B.  Car- 
penter, Mary  Mapes  Dodge,  Mary  Abby  Dodge,  Mr.  & Mrs.  D.  G. 
Croly,  Mr.  & Mrs.  James  Parton,  Mr.  & Mrs.  R.  H.  Stoddard,  Mr. 
& Mrs.  Bayard  Taylor,  John  Savage,  Rev.  Charles  F.  Deems,  D. 
D.,  LL.  D.,  E.  C.  Stedman,  Richard  B.  Kimball,  John  G.  Whit- 
tier, Samuel  Bowles,  A.  D.  Richardson  and  wife,  Madame  O.  W. 
Le  Vert,  Gen.  Clinton  B.  Fisk,  Thomas  W.  Knox,  William  A. 
Seaver,  Kate  Field,  Hon.  Thomas  A.  Jencks,  Mary.  L.  Booth, 


ALICE  AND  PIICEBE  CAKY. 


251 


Sara  Helen  Whitman,  Julius  Henri  Browne,  Dr.  J.  W.  Holcombe, 
Hon.  Schuyler  Colfax,  Ole  Bull,  John.  Russell  Young,  H.  O. 
Houghton,  Rev.  B.  F.  Tefft,  D.  D.,  Julia  Dean,  Geo.  W.  Carle- 
ton,  George  E.  Baker,  Robert  Chambers,  LL.  D.,  Prof.  R.  W. 
Raymond,  Justin  McCarthy,  Hon.  Henry  Wilson,  George  Ripley, 
Edwin  H.  Whipple,  John  G.  Saxe,  Rev.  Abel  C.  Thomas,  D.  D., 
Rev.  Geo.  B.  Cheever,  D.  D.,  Thomas  Bailey  Aldrich,  Rev.  Abel 
Stevens,  D.  D.,  Rev.  E.  H.  Chapin,  D.  D.,  Rev.  H.  M.  Field, 
D.  D.,  Rev.  H.  W.  Bellows,  D.  D.,  Rev.  Robert  Colyer,  George 
Perry,  Mrs.  John  C.  Fremont,  R.  W.  Gilder,  Gen.  F.  W.  Lander, 
Gen.  S.  F.  Cary,  Prof.  R.  R.  Raymond,  Whitelaw  Reid,  Lucia 
Gilbert  Runkle,  James  T.  Fields,  Frances  S.  Osgood,  Prof.  O. 
W.  Wight,  Elizabeth  Oakes  Smith,  Mary  Clemmer  Ames,  Rev.  O. 
B.  Frothingham,  Mrs.  Abbv  Hopper  Gibbon,  Mr.  & Mrs.  Justin 
McCarthy. 

In  the  year  1859  my  firm  published  Alice  Cary’s  Pic- 
tures from  Country  Life.  The  volume  achieved  new  honors 
for  the  author  at  home  and  abroad.  In  a review  of  several 
columns  in  length  The  London  Literary  Gazette  takes 
occasion  to  say  : 

“Every  tale  in  this  book  might  be  selected  as  evidence  of 
some  new  beauty  or  unhackneyed  grace.  There  is  nothing  feeble, 
nothing  vulgar,  and  above  all,  nothing  unnatural  or  melodramatic. 
To  the  analytical  subtlety  and  marvelous' naturalness  of  theFrendi 
school  of  romance  she  has  added  the  purity  and  idealizations  of 
the  home  affection  and  home  life  belonging  to  the  English  ; giv- 
ing to  both  the  American  richness  of  color  and  vigor  of  outline 
and  her  own  individual  power  and  loveliness.” 

On  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War,  I retired  from 
the  publishing  business,  keeping  up,  however,  my  friendly 
relations  with  the  Cary  sisters.  Their  subsequent  pub- 
lishers were  George  W.  Carleton  and  H.  0.  Houghton. 
Alice  writes,  October  21st,  1866  : “I  have  managed  with 
Carleton  about  my  books.  He  has  been  very  generous  to 
me.  I like  him,  and  you  will.”  Many  other  authors,  to 
my  knowledge,  can  say  as  much  about  this  wide-awake  and 


252 


ALICE  AND  PIICEBE  CARY. 


liberal  publisher.  If  any  one  can  make  a book  sell,  he 
can  do  it,  provided  it  is  a good  book. 

Mr.  John  Savage,  the  poet,  perhaps  their  earliest  New 
York  friend,  in  a letter  just  received,  gives  me  the  fol- 
lowing interesting  incidents  : 

“Before  the  Cary  Sisters  came  to  New  York,  they  had 
published — through  a Philadelphia  House — a volume  entitled 
“Poems  by  Alice  and  Phoebe  Cary,”  a selection  from  what  they 
printed  and  written.  They  did  not  attract  attention  in  their  teens; 
their  poetical  faculties  developed  with  their  womanhood  from  the 
sights,  duties  and  thoughts  connected  with  practical  farm  work 
and  continuously  appreciative  converse  with  Nature.  Their  knowl- 
edge and  experience  of  Nature’s  ways,  united  to  a deep  and  sen- 
sitive love  of  all  that  was  tender  and  picturesquely  suggestive  in 
Nature’s  seasonable  varieties  and  gifts,  created  a feeling  that 
amounted  to  insight,  and  furnished  their  writings  with  unending 
resources  of  attractive  figures  and  pure  sentiment. 

“They  wrote  with  great  facility  in  those  days,  and  their 
poems  exhibited  the  novelty  of  rhetoric  and  pulsation  of  rhythm 
that  came  more  from  a quick  application  of  things  seen  to  ideas 
felt,  and  to  fervor  of  appreciation  than  to  books  or  book  ways,  or 
the  mechanism  of  art.  There  was  a sentiment  of  melancholy  run- 
ning through  them  which  was,  in  my  opinion,  saddening  at  times. 
This  remained  a characteristic  of  Alice  to  the  last.  But  the  senti- 
ment was  high  and  pure  and  the  insight  of  Nature’s  motives,  feel- 
ings, longings  and  rewards,  would  never  permit  their  identifica- 
tion with  sentimentalism.  One  of  Alice’s  poems  of  this  period, 
‘Pictures  of  Memory,’  attracted  much  attention,  and  prepared  the 
way  for  her  appearance  among  the  litterati  of  New  York.  It  is  full 
of  sweetness,  melody,  thought  and  imagination.  The  story — the 
death  of  a little  brother,  who  lies  asleep  ‘in  the  lap  of  a dim  old 
forest  ’ is  exquisitely  told — and  the  gentle  resonance  of  the  num- 
bers catches  the  ear  and  haunts  the  fancy  and  memory  for  many  a 
day.  Just  look  at  it,  and  read  it,  and  see  if  you  can  refrain  from 
making  a sort  of  musical  accompaniment  to  its  passage  through 
the  brain.  Edgar  A.  Poe  thought  it  distinguished  by  all  the  higher 
elements  of  poetry,  true  imagination  and  the  power  of  exciting 
the  elevation  of  the  soul.  He  did  not  live  to  see  the  writer  of 
whose  genius  he  had  thus  early  in  her  career  expressed  so  high  an 
opinion. 


ALICE  AND  PHCEBE  CARY. 


253 


“ The  Carys  came  to  take  permanent  residence  in  New  York, 
in  the  spring  of  1851.  1 met  Alice  and  Elmina  at  one  of  Miss 

Anne  C.  Lynch’s  (now  Mrs.  Botta)  literary  re-unions  on  May  17th 
of  that  year.  Miss  Lynch’s  “Saturday  evenings,’’  were  quite 
famous  for  years.  The  hostess,  a lady  of  great  poetical  gifts, 
extensive  cultivation,  sweet  expression,  and  attractive  manners, 
gathering  around  her  all  that  was  most  prominent  and  promising  in 
the  paths  of  literature,  fine-arts,  music,  travel,  science,  etc.,  as 
well  as  amateurs  in  the  same,  and  persons  otherwise  distinguished 
in  diplomacy,  public  affairs  and  politics.  Alice  was  alluded  to  on 
the  occasion  as  ‘Our  poetess  from  the  West,’  or  ‘Our  Western 
poetess  ; ’ and  I understood  she  had  but  recently  come  to  New 
York.  She  was  shy  and  unobtrusive,  but  keenly  observant,  at  her 
first  mingling  with  the  acknowledged  intellectual  and  cultured 
society,  of  which  she,  not  far  distant,  was  to  become  herself  an 
eminent  feature,  and  later  still  a beloved  central  figure.  With 
increase  of  reputation,  she  did  not  lose  her  unobtrusive  modesty, 
but  later  on  there  was  added  to  her  gentleness  of  bearing  and  dig- 
nity of  character,  a suavity  of  humor  arising  from  keenness  of 
observation,  the  expression  of  which  by  her  was  all  the  more 
enjoyable  by  contrast  with  her  rigid  sense  of  justice,  and  earnest 
generosity  of  feeling  for  others.  Her  features  were  very  interest- 
ing and  her  piercing  yet  tender  dark  eyes,  were  only  less  large 
and  luminous  than  those  of  her  younger  sister,  Elmina,  who  was 
very  captivating.  Phoebe  was  not  in  New  York  then,  but  soon 
joined  her  sisters.  They  resided  at  that  time  at  the  residence  of 
Dr.  Rufus  W.  Griswold,  from  whom — when  strangers  to  each 
other,  Alice  says  (in  the  dedication  of  “ Clovernook  ” — her  first 
New  York  book)  she  received  the  first  praise  that  cheered  her 
on  the  path  of  literature.  At  Dr.  Griswold’s  they^  naturally  met 
literary  people  of  more  or  less  distinction,  but  in  about  a year’s 
time  set  to  house-keeping  for  themselves  in  the  first  suite  of 
rooms  left  of  the  hall,  in  a newly  built  apartment  house,  on 
Eighteenth  Street,  just  east  of  Second  Avenue.  Several  remov- 
als of  residence  followed  until  they  made  their  permanent  dwell- 
ing in  the  house  on  Twentieth  Street,  with  which  their  memory  is 
so  intimately  associated.  One  of  these  removals  led  to  an  acci- 
dent which  might  have  proved  a serious  catastrophe.  It  was  in 
the  house  on  the  south  side  of  Twenty-third  Street,  a few  doors 
from  Fifth  Avenue,  where  an  explosion  took  place,  caused  by 
bringing  a light  into  a room  in  which  gas  had  been  confined. 


254 


ALICE  AND  PHCEBE  CARY. 


Portions  of  the  front  wall  were  blown  out  and  Alice  somewhat 
injured. 

“ The  acquaintau  ce  began  at  Miss  Lynch’s  ripened  into  mutual 
respect,  esteem,  confidence  and  friendship,  and  I became,  in  the 
early  years  of  their  New  York  life,  the  frequent,  fraternal  escort 
of  one  or  two  of  the  sisters  to  theatre,  opera,  concert,  lecture, 
etc.  On  one  of  the  latter  occasions,  I had  the  pleasure  of  intro- 
ducing Alice  and  Thackeray  to  each  other.  I remember  a quick 
reply  of  Phoebe’s  coming  home  from  the  theatre  one  night. 
Stopping  in  at  Maillard’s  or  Taylor’s  for  coffee  or  chocolate,  I re- 
marked that  the  cup  in  which  the  beverage  was  served  had  no 
handles,  ‘Oh,  of  course  not,’  said  Phoebe,  lifting  the  cup  to  her 
lips,  ‘we  are  expected  to  handle  them  ourselves.’  Phoebe  had 
a dangerous  for  the  droll  side  of  things  and  people.  She  had 
both  humor  and  wit  and  a readiness  of  expression  and  repartee, 
which,  possessed  by  a less  genial  owrner  would  have  needed  care- 
ful control. 

“When  Alice  came  to  New  York,  she  had  an  engagement  to 
furnish  correspondence  on  literary,  social  and  general  topics  of 
interest  to  a leading  Cincinnati  Journal,  which  felt  pride  in  her 
Western  origin  and  rising  reputation.  She  contributed  poems  to 
such  periodicals  as  would  pay  anything,  and  soon  set  about  pre- 
paring a prose  volume  of  sketches  of  country  life.  This  was 
* Clovernook,  or  Recollections  of  our  Neighborhood  in  the 
West,’  published  by  our  friend  Redfield,  in  1852.  While  reading 
the  proof  sheets,  the  thought  constantly  suggested  itself  to  her 
that  her  experiences  of  the  daily  doings  and  simple  manners  of 
country  life  would  not  prove  of  sufficient  general  interest  to  make 
them  a success.  She  was,  however,  happily  mistaken,  and  not 
only  a second  edition  was  soon  called  for,  but  a second  series  in  a 
new  volume  came  out  the  following  year.  But  before  the  second 
‘Clovernook’  appeared,  and  while  the  critics  were  acknowledg- 
ing the  presence  among  us  of  a new  genius  in  prose  fiction,  one 
with  characteristics  as  idiosyncratic  and  distinctive  as  those  of 
Hawthorne  or  Poe  in  their  respective  styles,  a volume  of  verse 
came  from  the  press  which  elevated  the  writer  still  higher  in 
critical  opinion  and  the  affection  of  readers.  This  was  ‘ Lyra 
and  other  Poems,  by  Alice  Cary.’  Writers  contended  in  the 
spirit  of  homage  to  the  poet’s  claim  on  the  country’s  sense  of 
pride  and  on  the  lovers  of  poetic  literature  in  general.  It  was  held 
that  her  descriptive  powers  successfully  rivaled  Bryant  in  his 


ALICE  AND  PIICEBE  CARY. 


255 


special  line  and  distanced  every  other  writer  among  us.  Ripley, 
in  the  Tribune , favorably  compared  her  with  Mrs.  Browning,  or 
any  other  living  poetess,  for  sweetness,  pathos  and  tenderness;  and 
another  writer  in  Boston,  who  thought  he  discovered  the  influence 
of  Chaucer  and  Milton  in  her  writings,  felt  it  impossible  to  deny 
her  original  and  extraordinary  powers,  or  the  astonishing  rich- 
ness and  prodigality  with  which  the  elements  of  her  genius  were 
poured  forth. 

Alice  Cary  was  thence  forward  an  acknowledged  star 
in  the  literary  firmament  of  which  every  American  of  taste 
and  culture  was  justly  proud. 

The  following  letters  will  be  interesting  to  my  readers. 
They  are  principally  written  from  Cincinnati,  while  mak- 
ing a summer  visit  at  the  home  of  a younger  and  dearly 
loved  sister,  who  afterward  purchased  for  their  use  the 
home  in  East  Twentieth  Street,  which  became  endeared  to 
so  many  by  association  with  their  famous  Sunday  evening 
receptions.  The  first  is  from  Phoebe,  and  is  dated  July 
2d,  1852  : 

“ My  Dear  Mr.  Savage  : 

‘‘As  you  did  not  come  to  bid  us  good-by,  and  as  Alice  has 
written  to  you  without  receiving  any  answer,  I almost  fear  to  ad- 
dress; but  thiuking  it  possible  her  letter  has  not  reached  you,  I 
will  try  again.  We  are  here  so  far  inland,  and  so  far  from  where 
the  literary  do  mostly  congregate,  that  we  can  have  no  news  of 
that  kind  to  tell;  and  as  you  are  quite  unacquainted  with  our  city 
or  its  people,  I know  of  nothing  of  interest  to  communicate  to 
you.  As  for  ourselves,  we  remain  in  statu  quo.  Wonder  bow  you 
all  flourish  in  New  York,  and  how  you  manage  to  get  along,  now 
I am  gone.  Have  you  taken  some  “savage  woman”  yet,  and 
what  has  become  of  Stoddard,  and  Daily,  and  Dickinson,  and  all 
the  “Old  Guard,”  that  used  to  visit  at  Miss  Lynch’s.  I will  di- 
rect this  to  Mr.  Daily's  care,  for  I have  forgotten  your  number, 
and  if  you  get  it,  please  let  me  know,  and  also  if  Alice’s  was  re- 
ceived. Kindest  regards  from  Alice  and  Elmina  (the  younger 
sister  alluded  to),  and  believe  me,  your  friend  always. 

“Phebe  Cary.” 


256 


ALICE  AND  PH  CEDE  CARY. 


“Cincinnati,  September  5th,  1852. 

“Dear  Mr.  Savage, — 

“Pray  pardon  my  long  delay  in  answering  your  very  kind  and 
delightful  letter.  But  you  must  not  blame  my  melancholy  so  long 
as  you  indulge  in  the  horrible  fancies  indicated  by  the  skeletons 
you  sent  me.  We  have  had  so  much  sickness  here,  and  I have 
been  so  busy,  are  the  reasons  of  my  silence.  But  we  have  thought 
of  you,  and  talked  of  you  every  day ; and  yesterday  I read  to  Elmina 
your  articles  in  the  June  and  July  numbers  of  the  Democratic 
Review.  I need  not  say  we  were  pleased — thank  you  sincerely  for 
sending  them.  I expect  to  be  in  New  York  in  a month,  and 
Phebe  is  there  already.  Elmina  thinks  she  will  pass  some  weeks 
with  us  this  winter;  her  health  is  delicate,  and  I don’t  like  to 
leave  her.  I have  been  urging  her  to  write  (for  publication).  I 
know  she  could,  but  she  seems  to  have  lost  all  ambition.  My  own 
health  is  very  good,  and  I am  really  growingjfai,  and  with  good 
health  my  mind  is  greatly  more  cheerful.  I have  not  written  much 
poetry,  though  I would  fain  write  nothing  else.  I wrote  one  poem 
yesterday  morning,  over  which  El.  cried  sadly,  not  for  that  it  was 
so  touching,  I think,  but  because  she  does  not  write.  She  is  the 
best  girl  in  the  world,  but  too  self-sacrificing.  I am  writing  you 
quite  a family  letter  when  I should  be  upon  stilts,  and  try  to  talk 
wisely — but  I am  not  a blue,  thank  Heaven ! We  have  been  read- 
ing the  ‘ Blithesdale  Romance,’ and  were  disappointed.  Haw- 
thorne is  great  sometimes  but  ne  strikes  me  as  wonderfully  un- 
equal. It  is  a glorious  evening,  and  I wish  you  were  here — you 
should  not  say  I did  not  talk.  We  have  beautiful  sunsets  here, 
and  the  city,  as  I look  out,  looks  like  a picture  in  its  green  rim  of 
hills.  As  I grow  older  I love  Nature  more  and  more,  and  above 
all  the  little  village  where  I was  born.  I think  I should  find  new 
beauties  everlastingly.  The  sweet  twilight falleth  dimly , as  a poetess 
would  say.  I cannot  see  to  write,  and  so,  in  the  hope  of  hearing 
from  you  soon,  bid  you  good-by. 

“Most  sincerely  yours, 

“Alice  Cary.” 

Prof.  0.  W.  Wight,  an  eminent  scholar  and  author,  now 
a resident  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  who  knew  the  Cary  Sisters 
on  their  first  arrival  in  the  East  writes  me  under  date  of 
February  10th,  1884,  as  follows  : 


ALICE  AND  PIICEBE  CARY. 


257 


“ 1 made  the  acquaintance  of  both  soon  after  their  removal  to 
New  York  from  the  neighborhood  of  Cincinnati.  They  were 
then  young,  hopeful,  ambitious,  frank  and  unsophisticated  in  man- 
ner. Their  verses  had  already  attracted  some  attention,  and  men 
and  women  of  letters  in  the  metropolis  extended  to  them  a wel- 
como  hand.  Of  strictly  fashionable  life  they  knew  nothing  and 
were  never  initiated  into  its  mysteries.  They  were  speedily  rec- 
ognized by  the  aristocracy  of  culture,  and  unhesitatingly  received 
into  its  ranks.  Publishers  were  kind  to  them  and  thus  was  open- 
ed the  way  to  honorably  earn  their  bread.  They  were  earnest 
young  women  and  entered  upon  a career  of  literature  with  cour- 
age and  energy,  at  a time  when  the  difficulties  in  the  way  were 
greater  than  at  present.  That  was  more  than  thirty  years  ago. 

“Alice  was  rather  tall;  somewhat  slender,  lithe  and  graceful; 
a brunette — a Caucasian  brunette — a Persian  blonde,  with  fine, 
oval  face,  large  dark  eyes,  a little  oriental  in  cast  of  features;  in 
look,  pensive,  at  times  sad,  as  if  wearing  an  untold  sorrow  in  her 
heart.  The  tones  of  her  voice  were  pathetic,  and  while  her  smile 
was  pleasant  she  rarely  indulged  in  laughter.  The  tenor  of  her 
life  was  serious  and  she  rarely  uttered  a word  of  merriment.  Wit 
she  appreciated,  but  never  originated  it.  He  nature  responded 
more  readily  to  tears  than  to  laughter.  Yet  there  was  nothing  of 
the  sentimental  lachmyrose  about  her.  Pensiveness  was  charac- 
teristic, running  into  tone,  look,  utterance.  She  was  made  to 
emotionally  teach  and  soothe,  rather  than  to  mentally  dazzle  and 
shine. 

“ Phoebe,  on  the  other  hand,  was  rather  short,  somewhat  stout, 
sprightly  and  vivacious;  also  a brunette,  with  massive  face,  pierc- 
ing dark  eyes;  in  look  alert,  in  speech  prompt.  The  tone  of  her 
voice  was  ringing,  clear  like  a bell.  Fun  lurked  in  her  features, 
ready  to  spring  out  upon  the  beholder.  Never  have  I found  a 
woman  who  had  so  instantaneous  a perception  of  the  incongruous, 
who  gave  utterance  to  it  with  greater  promptness,  patness  or  frol- 
icsomeness. She  was  ‘intolerably  witty,’  and  her  ringing,  musi- 
cal laughter  was  contagious.  The  late  Rev.  Dr.  Chapin  was  alone 
her  equal  in  pert,  grotesque,  innocent  cackling,  unexpected  puns, 
uttered  with  the  sharp,  prompt  volubility  of  pyrotechnics.  Her 
conversational  powers  were  very  great.  Underlying  her  droll  hu- 
mor, was  good  sense  and  amiability.  There  was  nothing  bitter  in 
her  nature.  Large. hearted,  tender  of  the  feelings  of  others,  she 


258 


ALICE  AND  PIICEBE  CARY. 


was  always  compassionable  and  beloved.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
she  was  any  happier  in  spirit  than  her  pensive  sister. 

“Alice  and  Phoebe  completely  supplemented  each  other; 
and  were  entirely  devoted  to  each  other;  neither  would  marry, 
because  they  refused  to  be  separated.  I lost  sight  of  them  during 
my  absence  of  nearly  half  a dozen  years  in  Europe.  After  my 
return  my  pleasant  acquaintance  with  them  was  renewed.  They  had 
prospered  and  moved  into  a house  of  their  own  in  Twentieth 
Street.  Their  home  was  elegant  and  abounded  in  good  books. 
Around  them  had  gathered  a group  of  congenial  friends.  Their 
Sunday  evening  receptions  were  frequented  by  men  and  women, 
eminent  in  various  walks  of  life.  Nearly  every  person  one  met 
there  had  a national  reputation  of  some  kind. 

“The  Muses  presided  and  the  Graces  were  not  absent.  The 
conversation  was  of  the  highest  and  best,  brilliant  with  wit, 
weighty  with  thought,  rich  with  sentiment,  sometimes  serious 
with  erudition,  sometimes  flashing  with  repartee.  Anecdotes 
might  be  told  of  these  gatherings,  which,  when  some  of  the  still 
living  actors  have  departed,  may  find  their  way  into  literary  his- 
tory. 

“Years  passed  away  with  their  wealth  of  laughter  and  tears, 
and  of  course  the  full  story  of  the  precious  lives  of  Alice  and 
Phoebe  Cary  cannot  be  told  here.  Of  their  last  days  I could  not 
speak  if  I would.  The  characteristics  of  their  genius,  as  gathered 
from  long  personal  intercourse,  rather  than  from  their  published 
works,  may  be  briefly  given. 

“The  genius  of  Phoebe  was  like  itself,  and  could  be  compared 
with  nothing  else.  She  would  improvise  an  amusing  travesty  of 
almost  any  poem  placed  in  her  hands,  with  a by-play  of  jokes  and 
puns  exploding  like  bunches  of  fire-crackers  in  an  empty  barrel, 
but  she  needed  the  stimulus  of  congenial  company  to  do  her  best 
in  this  way.  Her  improvised  efforts  of  the  kind  were  superior  to 
the  published  ones.  There  was  a click  of  steel  in  her  verse  and 
flashes  of  wit  like  the  sparks  struck  from  steel  with  flint*.  Yet 
pathos,  tenderness,  sweetness,  earnestness  were  not  wanting.  She 
could  remember  the  brook  and  the  forest  tree  of  the  farm  whence 
she  sprang,  and  recall  them  vividly  in  genuine  pictures  of  the  im- 
agination. The  school-house,  the  playground,  the  early  longings 
for  the  unknown  and  the  untried,  and  many  things  more,  were 
transformed  into  genuine  poetry.  But  I must  not  forget  that  I 
am  writing  some  brief  reminiscences  and  not  exhaustive  critiques. 


ALICE  AND  PHCEBE  CATtY. 


259 


“The  genius  of  Alice  has  perhaps  been  sufficiently  described 
in  giving  her  portrait.  In  her  poetry,  especially  as  interpreted  by 
her  own  voice  in  reading,  was  the  music  of  the  waterfall,  of  the 
humming  of  bee3,  or  of  the  plaintive  twitter  of  birds,  the  sweetness 
of  apple  blossoms,  of  the  blowing  clover,  or  of  the  new-mown  hay, 
the  tenderness  of  the  maiden  sighing  for  a love  she  could  not  fathom 
and  could  not  reveal,  the  pathos  of  an  unfulfilled  life,  looking  out 
with  unspeakable  sorrow  into  the  spiritual  realms  that  lie  shadowy 
and  shoreless  both  this  side  and  beyond  the  portals  of  eternity. 
She  lacked  the  lyric  fire  and  the  Greek  culture  of  Mrs.  Browning; 
she  had  none  of  the  erotic  passion  of  Sappho;  she  was  the  equal  of 
Mrs.  Hemans  in  pure  sentiment  and  grace  of  versification  ; she  w'as 
not  at  all  inferior  to  Mrs.  Sigourney  in  tender  song,  flowing  spon- 
taneously from  a rich  womanly  life;  with  the  influences  of  time 
and  place,  with  the  inspiring  friendship  of  a Michael  Angelo,  she 
might  have  been  a Yittoria  Colonna.” 

One  of  the  most  affecting  duties  of  my  life  was  arrang- 
ing for  the  funeral  services  of  their  youngest  sister  Elmina, 
— who  died  in  1867.  She  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
women  I have  ever  met — and  her  early  death,  though  long 
looked  for,  Alice  and  Phoebe  took  much  to  heart.  Alice 
speaks  of  her  repeatedly  in  her  “ Lover’s  Diary. " We 
selected  the  site  for  her  burial  in  Greenwood,  where,  a few 
years  later,  Alice  and  Phoebe  were  laid  by  her  side.  The 
bearers  of  the  remains  of  Elmina  were  Horace  Greeley, 
Oliver  Johnson,  Samuel  Sinclair  and  myself.  Mr.  Johnson 
delivered  a most  touching  funeral  address. 

It  was  my  misfortune  to  be  absent  in  a distant  part 
of  the  country,  when  both  these  dear  friends  of  mine  sick- 
ened and  died.  A telegram  that  Alice  Cary  was  dead, 
and  another,  six  months  later,  that  Phoebe  was  dead,  was 
a double  shock  to  me  and  my  family,  all  of  whom  loved 
the  sisters  so  well.  Alice  died  on  the  12th  of  February, 
1871,  her  funeral  taking  place  two  days  later. 

Miss  Mary  L.  Booth,  Editor  of  Harper’s  Bazaar , and 
one  of  Alice  Cary’s  most  intimate  friends,  gives  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  her  funeral,  in  that  paper  : 


260 


ALICE  AND  PHOEBE  CARY. 


“ The  14th  of  February  was  a day  of  storm  and  immense  snow 
fall.  Through  it  all  hundreds  went  to  the  Church  of  the  Strang- 
ers, where  the  services  at  her  obsequies  were  conducted  by  her 
friend,  Rev.  Dr.  Deems.  Early  in  Dr.  Deems’  ministry  in  New 
York,  she  took  a deep  interest  in  the  success  of  the  church  that 
was  to  be  unsectarian  and  free  for  all  strangers. 

“ It  was  the  last  in  which  she  was  able  to  hear  the  Gospel,  but 
her  intense  interest  in  it  deepened  to  her  dying  day.  Often  in 
her  sickness  she  expressed  the  wish  that  she  could  contrive  some 
way  to  obtain  a church  for  the  congregation,  which  was  then 
worshipping  in  the  chapel  of  the  University.  When  she  learned 
that  Commodore  Vanderbilt  had  given  the  Mercer  Street  Church 
to  Dr.  Deems  for  his  Christian  work,  she  was  overjoyed  into 
speechlessness,  and  could  not  have  been  more  grateful,  if  some 
great  personal  favor  had  been  conferred  on  her.  Her  anxiety  to 
be  present  at  the  opening  exercises  was  intense,  but  she  could  not. 
She  went  into  the  church  at  last  to  lie  in  quiet  and  beauty,  among 
flowers,  music  and  friends,  while  her  pastor,  tearfully  and  heart- 
ily interpreted  the  love  and  grief  of  a large  assembly,  in  which 
were  many  poor,  some  servants,  many  who  loved  her  in  her  books, 
and  almost  every  woman  and  man  in  New  York,  who  is  distin- 
guished in  literature.  And  while  he  talked  great  men  bowed 
their  heads  and  wept.  She  was  carried  to  Greenwood,  a score  of 
devoted  friends  following  through  the  storm,  and  seeing  her 
precious  dust  laid  beside  that  of  her  sister  Elmina. 

“Immediately  the  heavens  covered  her  resting-place  with 
drapery  as  white  as  her  soul,  and  as  soft  and  noiseless  as  her 
charity.” 

And  thus  Alice  Cary,  lived,  died  and  was  buried. 

In  the  memorial  volume  by  Mary  Clemmer,  which  was 
written  at  the  request  of  the  Cary  Brothers,  and  which 
she  has  kindly  placed  at  my  disposal,  I find  the  following  : 

“Had  Alice  Cary  married  the  man  she  then  loved,  she  never 
would  have  come  to  New  York  at  all,  to  coin  the  rare  gifts  of  her 
brain  and  soul  into  money  for  shelter  and  bread.  Business  inter- 
ests had  brought  into  her  western  neighborhood  a man,  at 
that  time  much  her  superior  in  years,  culture  and  fortune. 
Naturally  he  sought  the  society  of  a young,  lovely  woman  so 


ALICE  AND  PHCEBE  CAEY. 


261 


superior  to  her  surroundings  and  associations.  To  Alice  he  was 
the  tnan  of  men.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  most  richly  endowed  man 
of  the  world,  whom  she  met  afterwards  in  her  larger  sphere,  ever 
wore,  to  her,  the  splendor  of  manhood  which  invested  this  king 
of  her  youth.  Alice  Cary  loved  this  man,  and  in  the  profoundest 
sense  she  never  loved  another.  A proud  and  prosperous  family 
brought  all  their  pride  and  power  to  bear  on  a son  to  prevent  his 
marrying  a girl,  to  them  uneducated,  rustic  and  poor.  ‘ I waited 
for  one  who  never  came  back,’  she  said.  ‘ Yet  I believed  he  would 
come,  till  I read  in  a paper  his  marriage  to  another.’  Can  you 
think  what  life  would  be — loving  one,  waiting  for  one  who  would 
never  come  back. 

“ He  did  come  at  last.  His  wife  had  died.  Alice  was  dying. 
The  gray-haired  man  sat  down  beside  the  gray-haired  woman.  Life 
had  dealt  prosperously  with  him,  as  is  its  wont  with  men.  Suf- 
fering and  death  had  taken  all  from  her,  save  the  lustre  of  her 
wondrous  eyes.  From  her  wan  and  wasted  face  they  shone  upon 
him  full  of  tenderness  and  youth.  Thus  they  met,  with  life  be- 
hind them — they  who  parted  plighted  lovers,  when  life  was 
young.  He  was  the  man  whom  she  forgave  for  her  blighted  and 
weary  life,  with  a smile  of  parting  as  divine  as  ever  lit  the  face  of 
woman.” 

Phoebe  soon  followed  her  sister  to  the  grave.  They 
were  so  unlike  in  personal  appearance,  in  conversation  and 
in  many  of  their  tastes.  In  devotion  to  each  other  they 
were  as  one.  Phoebe  was  dependent  upon  Alice,  who  was 
her  support  and  stay.  They  had  trodden  the  same  literary 
path  together  from  poverty  to  competence.  Phoebe  was 
constantly  growing  in  literary  strength  and  had  she  lived 
a few  years  longer  we  should  have  heard  much  more  of 
her  as  a poet.  As  soon  as  her  death  was  known,  the 
daily  papers  said:  “The  w'ittiest  woman  in  America  is 
dead/’ 

I remember  once  having  the  honor  and  good  fortune  to 
travel  with  her  as  far  as  her  sister's  residence  in  Indiana, 
and  through  the  day  and  evening  of  travel,  her  wit  was 
continuous  as  the  sparks  of  the  locomotive  just  ahead. 

Mrs.  Clemmer  says  in  her  “Memorial  Volume  : ” 


262 


ALICE  AND  PHCEBE  CARY. 


“ Phoebe  Cary  was  the  most  literal  of  human  beings.  Never 
did  there  live  such  a disenchanter.  Hold  up  to  her,  in  her  literal 
every-day  world,  your  most  precious  dream,  and  in  an  instant,  by 
a single  rapier  of  a sentence,  she  would  thrust  it  through  and  strip 
it  of  the  last  vestige  of  glamour  and  you  would  see  nothing  before 
you  but  a cold,  staring  fact.  It  was  this  tenacious  grip  on  reality, 
this  keen  sense  of  the  ludicrous  in  the  relation  between  words  and 
things,  which  made  her  the  most  spontaneous  of  punsters  and  a 
very  queen  of  parodies.” 

A volume  of  her  “ Parodies  ” was  published  in  the  year 
1855,  by  Ticknor  & Fields.  But  Phoebe  Cary  had  two 
sides  to  her  talent,  many  of  her  poems  being  of  a tender, 
pathetic  and  of  a religious  nature. 

Her  famous  “ Nearer  Home”  was  written  in  1852. 
Many  variations  of  the  poem  have  been  published.  In  1869 
she  assisted  Dr.  Deems  in  the  preparation  of  Hymns  for 
all  Christians  for  the  use  of  the  Church  of  the  Strangers. 
At  his  solicitation  she  allowed  her  hymn  to  go  into  the 
books  with  this  note,  “ The  author  desires  the  following  to 
be  considered  hereafter  her  authorized  version.”  She  spent 
days  over  the  fourth  stanza,  making  many  alterations  be- 
fore she  could  suit  herself. 

“NEARER  HOME. 

“ One  sweetly  solemn  thought 
Comes  to  me  o’er  and  o’er; 

I’m  nearer  my  home  to-day 
Than  I ever  have  been  before : 

“ Nearer  my  Father’s  house, 

Where  the  many  mansions  be; 

Nearer  the  great  white  throne, 

Nearer  the  crystal  sea; 

“ Nearer  the  bound  of  life, 

Where  we  lay  our  burdens  down  ; 

Nearer  leaving  the  cross. 

Nearer  gaining  the  crown : 


ALICE  AND  PIJCEBE  CARY. 


263 


“ But  the  waves  of  that  silent  sea 
Roll  dark  before  my  sight, 

That  brightly  the  other  side 
Break  on  a shore  of  light. 

“ O,  if  my  mortal  feet 

Have  almost  gained  the  brink, 

If  it  be  I am  nearer  home 
Even  to-day  than  I think: 

“ Father,  perfect  my  trust, 

Let  my  spirit  feel  in  death, 

That  her  feet  are  firmly  set 

On  the  Rock  of  a living  faith  !” 

Dr.  Deems  once  said  that  Phoebe  and  Alice  Cary  were 
spiritual  Siamese  twins.  The  night  after  Alice’s  funeral 
he  went  to  the  house  and  found  every  room  opened  and 
lighted.  Phoebe  said  it  was  Alice’s  wish  that  everything 
should  be  made  cheerful  when  she  was  gone.  The  friends 
sat  and  talked  during  the  evening,  sometimes  laughing 
over  amusing  scenes  in  which  Alice  had  been  concerned. 
He  then  hoped  that  Phoebe  would  recover  from  the  great 
blow  that  had  fallen  upon  her,  and  a plan  of  literary  work 
was  laid  out  for  her.  But  it  was  soon  apparent  that  she 
was  to  follow  her  sister.  She  would  not  work.  The  fine 
glow  of  her  complexion  faded,  and  strands  of  white  began 
to  appear  in  her  “ midnight  hair.”  One  day  he  found  her 
rolling  in  her  bed  in  an  agony  of  despondency,  when  he 
rallied  her  by  telling  her  that  it  was  a sin  and  a shame  for 
any  woman,  whose  usefulness  had  gone  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth,  and  whose  words  would  be  repeated  forever,  to  be 
giving  way  to  despondency  and  tried  to  cheer  her  by 
repeating  the  following  story  : 

“ A gentleman  in  China,  intrusted  with  packages  for  a young 
man  from  his  friends  in  the  United  States,  learned  that  he  would 
probably  be  found  in  a certain  gambling-house.  He  went  thither, 
but  not  seeing  the  young  man,  sat  down  and  waited,  in  the  hope 
that  he  might  come  in.  The  place  was  a bedlam  of  noises,  men 


264 


ALICE  AND  PIKEBE  CARY. 


getting  angry  over  their  cards,  and  frequently  coming  to  blows. 
Near  him  sat  two  men — one  young,  the  other  forty  years  of  age. 
They  were  betting  and  drinking  in  a terrible  way,  the  elder  one 
giving  utterance  continually  to  the  foulest  profanity.  Two  games 
had  been  finished,  the  young  man  losing  each  time.  The  third 
game,  with  fresh  bottles  of  brandy,  had  just  begun,  and  the  young 
man  sat  lazily  back  in  his  chair,  while  the  oldest  shuffled  his 
cards.  The  man  was  a longtime  dealing  his  cards,  and  the  young 
man,  looking  carelessly  about  the  room,  began  to  hum  a tune.  He 
went  on,  till  at  length  he  began  to  sing  the  hymn  of  Phoebe  Cary 
above  quoted.  The  words,  says  the  writer  of  the  story,  repeated 
in  such  a vile  place,  at  first  made  me  shudder.  A Sabbath-school 
hymn  in  a gambling  den  ! But  while  the  young  man  sang,  the 
elder  stopped  dealing  the  cards,  stared  at  the  singer  a moment, 
and,  throwing  the  cards  on  the  floor,  exclaimed:  ‘Harry,  where 
did  you  learn  that  tune?’  ‘What  tune?’  ‘Why,  that  one  you’ve 
been  singing.’  The  young  man  said  he  did  not  know  what  he  had 
been  singing,  when  the  elder  repeated  the  words,  with  tears  in 
his  eyes,  and  the  young  man  said  he  had  learned  them  in  a Sunday 
school  in  America.  ‘Come,’  said  the  elder,  getting  up;  ‘come, 
Harry;  here’s  wThat  I wTon  from  you;  go  and  use  it  for  some  good 
purpose.  As  for  me,  as  God  sees  me,  I have  played  my  last  game, 
and  drank  my  last  bottle.  I have  misled  you,  Harry,  and  I am 
sorry.  Give  me  your  hand,  my  boy,  and  say  that  for  old  America’s 
sake,  if  for  no  other,  you  will  quit  this  infernal  business.’  The 
gentleman  who  tells  the  story  (originally  published  in  the  Boston 
Daily  News ) saw  these  two  men  leave  the  gambling  house  to- 
gether and  walk  away  arm  in  arm;  and  he  remarks:  ‘It  must  be 
a source  of  great  joy  to  Miss  Cary  to  know  that  her  lines,  which 
have  comforted  so  many  Christian  hearts,  have  been  the  means  of 
awakening  in  the  breast  of  two  tempted  and  erring  men  on  the 
other  side  of  the  globe  a resolution  to  lead  a better  life.’  It  was  a 
source  of  great  joy  to  Miss  Cary  as  we  happen  to  know.  Before 
us  lies  a private  letter  from  her  to  an  aged  friend  in  this  city,  with 
the  printed  story  inclosed,  and  containing  this  comment:  ‘I  in- 
close the  hymn  and  the  story  for  you,  not  because  I am  vain  of 
the  notice,  but  because  I thought  you  would  feel  a peculiar  inter- 
est in  them  when  you  know  the  hymn  was  written  eighteen  years 
ago  (1842)  in  your  house.  I composed  it  in  the  little  back  third- 
story  bed-room,  one  Suuday  morning,  after  coming  from  church, 


ALICE  AND  PHCEBE  CARY. 


265 


and  it  makes  me  very  happy  to  think  that  any  word  I could  say 
has  done  a little  good  in  the  world.’  ” 

Phoebe  was  at  the  time  of  writing  this  hymn  but  17 
years  of  age.  This  story  of  a hymn,  published  in  The  New 
York  Tribune  soon  after  her  death,  brought  the  following 
reply  : 

“SEQUEL  TO  THE  GAMBLER'S  STORY. 

“To  the  Editor  of  the  Tribune. 

“ Sir  : Having  noticed  in  the  colums  of  the  Tribune  a bio- 
graphical sketch  of  Phoebe  Cary,  which  contained  an  incident 
from  my  letters  from  China,  I think  that  the  sequel  to  the  story 
of  “ The  Gamblers  ” may  interest  her  many  friends.  The  old  man 
spoken  of  in  the  anecdote  has  returned  to  California,  and  has  become 
a hard-working  Christian  man,  while  ‘ Harry  ’ has  renounced 
gambling  and  all  its  attendant  vices.  The  incident  having  gone 
the  rounds  of  the  press,  the  old  man  saw  it,  and  finding  its 
‘credit,’  wrote  to  me  about  it.  Thus  Phoebe  Cary’s  poem  ‘ One 
Sweetly  Solemn  Thought,’  etc.,  has  saved  from  ruin  at  least  two 
who  seldom  or  never  entered  a house  of  worship. 

I am  yours, 

“Russell  H.  Conwell. 

“ Traveller  Office,  Boston,  August  9th,  1871.” 

When  Mr.  Whittier  published  his  “ Ballads  of  New 
England  ” he  sent  a copy  on  Christmas,  1869,  with  the  fol- 
lowing inscription  : 

“TO  ALICE  AND  PHCEBE  CARY. 

“ Who  from  the  farm-field  singing  came, 

The  Song  whose  echo  now  is  fame, 

And  to  the  great  false  city  took 
The  honest  hearts  of  Clovernook, 

And  made  their  homes  beside  the  Sea 
The  trysting- place  of  Liberty. 

John  G.  Whittier.” 

Its  a singular  fact  that  both  the  sisters  preferred  living 
in  the  city  to  a country  residence ; even  in  the  suburbs  of 
12 


266 


ALICE  AND  PHCEBE  CART. 


New  York.  They  often  wondered  why  any  one  fond  of  liter- 
ary society  like  myself  should  not  live  in  the  city  and  en- 
joy cosmopolitan  life  heartily  as  they  did.  And  still  not 
only  their  prose  but  their  poetry  was  constantly  depicting 
country  life.  They  enjoyed  country  diversions,  however, 
notwithstanding.  I remember  on  one  occasion  all  three 
of  the  sisters  accompanied  me  on  a brief  visit  to  my  resi- 
dence on  the  Hudson  near  Yonkers — it  was  in  the  summer 
time,  and  the  lawn  of  clover  in  front  of  the  house  was 
fragrant  with  its  blossoms — my  wife  had  hardly  greeted 
them  before  Alice  sat  down  on  the  steps  and  deliberately 
took  off  her  shoes  and  stockings  and  literally  waded  through 
the  clover.  Her  Clovernook  stories  are  full  of  evidence 
like  this  of  her  natural  love  of  country  life. 

When  I related  this  incident  to  Dr.  Deems,  he  said  it 
reminded  him  that  Alice  in  her  last  illness  suffered  greatly 
from  a disease  which  shortened  one  limb  and  subjected  her 
to  intense  pain.  Once  when  he  was  holding  her  shoulders 
and  Mrs.  Deems  was  gently  but  firmly  drawing  the  limb, 
Alice  said,  “One  form  of  my  dreams  which  comes  frequent- 
ly is  that  of  running  rapidly  bare-footed,  every  particle  of 
ground  seeming  to  tickle  every  particle  of  my  foot.”  This 
remark  occurred  to  Dr.  Deems  when  soon  after  her  death 
he  read  the  following  beautiful  line,  which  Alice  had  writ- 
ten descriptive  of  her  own  experience  : 

“ My  soul  is  full  of  whispered  song  ; 

My  blindness  is  my  sight  ; 

The  shadows  that  I feared  so  long 
Are  all  aglow  with  light  : 

And  while  my  pulses  feebly  beat, 

My  faith  doth  so  abound 
I feel  grow  firm,  beneath  my  feet, 

The  green  immortal  ground.” 

An  incident  is  mentioned  or  a young  Southern  lady 
(now  Mrs.  Marion  J.  Verdery,  of  Augusta,  Ga.,)  who 
from  childhood  had  been  a loving  student  of  xilice  Cary’s 


ALICE  AND  PIICEBE  CARY. 


267 


poetry,  remarking  at  the  funeral,  that  she  believed  she 
could  find  each  flower  of  our  Middle  States  and  many  of 
those  of  the  South  mentioned  with  appreciation  in  some  of 
Alice  Cary’s  poetry. 

Oliver  Johnson,  the  well-known  early  abolitionist,  who 
with  his  Avife  were  intimate  and  devoted  friends  of  them 
both,  writes  me  under  date  of  April  3d,  1884 : 

“ The  sisters  will  ever  hold  an  honored  place  in  my  memory. 
I never  pass  through  the  Fourth  Avenue,  that  my  eyes  do  not  seek 
the  little  house  near  the  corner  of  Twentieth  Street,  where  they 
so  long  resided,  and  where  I was  so  often  a guest.  Externally  it 
does  not  seem  changed  since  they  left  it,  and  I can  hardly  divest 
myself  of  the  feeling  that  I should  find  them  still  there  if  I should 
ring  the  door-bell  and  inquire  for  them.  They  died  too  early,  be- 
fore completely  achieving  the  fame- which  awaited  them;  but  they 
lived  long  enough  to  endear  themselves  not  only  to  their  near 
friends,  but  to  thousands  who  never  saw  them.” 

Mary  Clemmer  writes  me  under  date  of  March  14th, 
1884: 

“You  are  welcome  to  any  quotation  you  may  wish  to  make 
from  the  Cary  Memorial.  I narrate  that  book  from  my  heart  as 
well  as  from  my  memory.  It  comes  from  love  and  truth  and  if  it 
can  commence  to  illustrate  the  life  of  the  dearest  woman  I have 
ever  known,  it  will  add  to  my  happiness.  I have  never  ceased  to 
miss  Alice  Cary,  and  all  the  more  that  my  own  life  is  full  and 
happy.  Nor  do  I cease  to  love  Phoebe,  though  in  life  I was  not 
so  intimately  bound  to  her  by  the  close  sympathetic  spiritual  rela- 
tions which  bound  me  to  Alice.” 

Among  those  I occasionally  met  at  the  Cary’s  evenings 
at  home  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  0.  J.  Victor.  Coming,  as  they 
all  did,  from  Ohio,  and  all  of  them  authors,  they  naturally 
were  intimate,  both  in  a social  and  literary  Avay.  Metta 
Victoria  Victor,  like  Alice,  was  timid  of  the  public  and 
was  almost  a stranger  save  to  the  select  circle  who  had  the 
entree  to  her  pretty  home  in  New  Jersey.  Between  Mrs. 
Victor  and  the  Carys  the  intimacy  was  that  of  sisters.  The 


268 


ALICE  AND  PIICEBE  CARY. 


last  place  Phoebe  visited,  and  shortly  before  her  death  was 
at  the  Victors*  residence,  the  terraces,  of  which  both  sis- 
ters were  very  fond.  They  once  gave  an  old-fashioned 
“husking  bee**  in  the  great  barn,  at  which  a hundred 
guests  were  present  as  “ buskers.**  Phoebe  officiated  as  a 
kind  of  mistress  of  ceremonies,  and  everything  was  carried 
out  in  true  pioneer  style — a fiddler  on  a barrel,  an  immense 
heap  of  corn  on  the  broad  floor,  lanterns  suspended,  husk- 
ers  on  and  around  the  pile  and  in  the  adjacent  “ mows  ;** 
cider  and  doughnuts  for  refreshment,  and  fun  ad  libitum , 
even  to  the  struggle  to  get  away  from  the  penalty  of  the 
red  ears.  Alice  sought  the  retirement  of  the  hay  mow,  but 
Phoebe  wras  everywhere,  the  bright  particular  star  of  the 
occasion,  with  her  irrepressible  humor  flashing  like  fire- 
works over  all.  After  the  great  pile  was  husked  there  fol- 
lowed the  dance  on  the  swept  floor,  and  the  breaking  up 
was  not  until  long  after  midnight.  The  next  morning 
Phoebe  returned,  laden  with  huge  ears  for  Horace  Greeley, 
which  he  displayed  over  his  desk  in  his  “ den.**  Greeley 
was  to  have  been  present,  but  was,  at  the  last  moment,  de- 
tained, whereat  he  swore;  and  Phoebe  took  him  the  ears, 
as  she  averred,  to  make  him  “ acknowledge  the  corn**  for 
swearing. 

In  the  year  1868,  I purchased  a fruit  farm  at  Aiken, 
S.  C.,  of  John  E.  Marley,  a wTell-known  citizen  of  that  place. 
I had  no  intention  of  residing  there  at  the  time,  but  I soon 
found  I had  the  inevitable  elephant  on  my  hands  which 
necessitated  my  going  there  to  look  after  the  property,  not 
expecting  however  to  be  absent,  as  I was,  for  twro  or  three 
years.  I had  been  explaining  the  matter  of  my  purchase 
to  Phoebe  Cary  a short  time  previous.  She  had  never  seen 
Charles  Dickens,  and  as  he  was  to  read  one  of  his  Christ- 
mas stories  at  Stein  way  Hall,  we  went  together  to  hear  him. 
The  first  words  Dickens  uttered  were  : “ Marley  was  dead 
to  begin  with.**  Quick  as  a flash  Phoebe  turned  to  me  and 
asked  how  I could  buy  a farm  of  a dead  man  ? Alas  ! the 
sequel  proved  I found  a very  live  Marley. 


ALICE  AND  PIKEBE  CARY. 


269 


On  the  8th  of  September,  1866,  my  wife  and  myself 
celebrated  our  Silver  wedding.  One  of  the  pleasant  mem- 
ories of  that  gathering  is  the  following  impromptu  signed 
by  Phoebe  Cary: 

“ Some  five  and  twenty  years  ago, 

Our  time  of  youth  and  rapture, 

Our  host  was  a bewitching  beau, 

The  girls  all  tried  to  capture. 

Our  hostess  ’twas  who  won  the  field  ; 

All  honor  then  to  her  be, 

She  justly  takes  the  prize  we  yield, 

Because  she  won  the  Derby.” 


I remember  one  sultry  summer  forenoon  a number  of 
literary  gentlemen  were  talking  together  in  the  front  part 
of  our  Nassau  Street  store,  among  them  John  G.  Saxe  the 
witty  poet.  Soon  Alice  and  Phoebe  entered,  the  latter,  as 
usual,  dressed  in  a close-fitting  bodice.  She  and  Saxe  eyed 
each  other  for  a moment,  when  the  latter  said,  “ Fie,  Miss 
Phoebe,  why  do  you  dress  so  closely  such  sultry  weather? 
Look  at  me  ” (he  had  on  a linen  duster,  and  was  fanning 
himself  industriously,  as  usual). 

Phoebe  replied  instanter  : “I  never  feel  comfortable 
with  loose  sacks  around  me.” 

On  another  occasion,  as  we  were  sitting  around  the  eve- 
ning tea-table,  the  question  arose  about  the  number  of 
children  John  Rogers  possessed — “nine  small  children  and 
one  at  the  breast.”  The  company  was  about  evenly  divided 
wdiether  there  were  nine  or  ten.  Phoebe  was  appealed  to, 
when  she  said  “Ten,  of  course.” 

How  do  you  reach  such  a positive  decision  ? “ Don’t 

nine  and  one  to  carry  make  ten  ?” 

One  evening  at  a little  gathering  which  was  characterized 
by  great  hilarity,  one  of  the  quiet  parties  present  who  was 
not  disposed  to  be  merry,  was  asked  the  question,  “ Why 
don’t  you  laugh  ? you  sit  there  just  like  a post.”  “ There  !” 


270 


ALICE  AND  PHCEBE  CARY. 


said  Phoebe,  “She  called  you  a post;  why  don’t  you  rail 
at  her  !” 

At  another  time,  when  the  sisters  were  dining  out 
where  there  was  plenty  of  wine  on  the  table,  some  one 
asked  them  what  kind  of  wines  they  kept.  “ Oh  !”  said 
Phoebe,  “ we  drink  Heidsec,  but  we  keep  mum.” 

Mrs.  Clemmer  relates  that  Alice’s  little  visitors  were 
sometimes  silent  ones.  Going  into  her  room  one  day  there 
was  a row  of  photographs,  all  little  girls,  arranged  before  her 
on  her  desk.  “ Whose  little  girls  ?”  was  the  eager  question. 
“ Mine  !”  was  the  answer,  “ they’re  all  Alice  Cary’s.  Take 
your  choice,  the  only  trouble  they  make  me  is,  I can’t  pos- 
sibly get  time  to  write  them  all.  Though  I do  try  to,  to  the 
babies’  mothers.”  All  the  portraits  had  been  sent  by  the 
parents  of  her  little  namesakes.  It  may  not  be  inappro- 
priate to  mention  that  I am  dictating  these  words  to  my 
youngest  child,  who  bears  the  name  of  the  poetess,  and 
from  whom  she  received  a golden  necklace  on  the  anniver- 
sary of  her  first  birthday. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Phoebe  Cary  a letter  appeared 
in  the  Tribune  written  by  James  Somerville,  my  life-long 
friend  and  a great  admirer  of  the  Cary  Sisters — suggesting 
a monument  to  their  memory.  The  suggestion  was  acted 
upon  at  once  with  success,  Mr.  F.  B.  Carpenter,  the  artist, 
taking  in  charge  the  raising  of  funds  for  that  purpose.  The 
monument  is  of  Quincy  granite,  and  consists  of  a simple 
base  and  die  with  cap,  together  with  polished  marble. 

The  whole  is  plain,  simple  and  durable.  Horace  Gree- 
ley headed  the  list  of  subscribers  to  the  fund  and  expressed 
a desire  to  see  the  monument  erected  before  he  died.  This 
expectation  was  not  realized,  but  the  work  was  completed 
soon  after  his  own  remains  were  laid  in  the  same  cemetery. 
Mr.  Greeley  had  followed  to  the  grave  as  a pall-bearer  each 
one  of  the  three  sisters.  It  seemed  fitting  that  he  who 
through  life  was  so  identified  with  them  should  find  his 
last  resting-place  near  by  in  the  same  beautiful  cemetery. 


XIV. 


H.  0.  HOUGHTON— HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  & CO. 

Riverside  Press  audits  founder — The  “Printer’s  Devil ” 
and  Noah  Webster — Young  Houghton  becomes  Edi- 
tor— Burning  of  the  Ocean  Monarch — Houghton 
raises  his  first  Capital — Timely  aid  from  Alabama — 
“I  married  your  Cousin ” — Founds  the  Riverside 
Press — Consolidation  of  Firms — Atlantic  Monthly  is 
Born — Meets  Alice  and  Phoebe  Cary — Three  famous 
Festivals — Whittier  Dinner — Holmes  Breakfast — 
Stowe  Party — Disappointed  lady  Contributors — 
Riverside  Press  Employees — Cambridge  a Happy 
Home. 

'T'HE  name  of  Henry  0.  Houghton,  and  that  of  the 
Riverside  Press,  are  synonymous.  They  may  be  con- 
sidered one  and  inseparable.  The  Press  is  hardly  spoken 
of  save  in  connection  with  its  founder — who  to-day  stands 
unchallenged  as  the  first  printer  in  the  purely  literary, 
artistic  and  aesthetic  features  of  hook  printing  in  this  coun- 
try if  not  in  the  world.  It  is  interesting  and  instructive 
for  young  men  to  read  of  the  career  of  Mr.  Houghton,  from 
a printer's  boy,  who  gradually  worked  his  way  up  to  his 
present  eminent  position, — the  head  of  the  best  appointed 
book  publishing  establishment  in  America.  Mr.  Hough- 
ton's early  life  is  not  unlike  that  of  Benjamin  Eranklin  and 
the  late  Thurlow  Weed,  in  their  career  as  printers.  At  the 
early  age  of  thirteen  he  was  engaged  as  “ Printer's  Devil" 
in  the  office  of  the  Burlington  Free  Press,  where  he  labored 
early  and  late,  spending  the  “long  old-fashioned  days," 

[271] 


272 


H.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


as  he  once  said,  in  manual  labor ; but  devoting  his  even- 
ings and  all  other  spare  moments  which  were  free  to  him, 
to  the  studies  necessary  to  fit  him  for  college,  to  enter 
which  was  his  chief  ambition.  Young  Houghton’s  monot- 
onous life  at  the  printer’s  case,  was  varied  one  day  by  a 
most  curious  and  interesting  incident. 

A slight,  pale-faced  man  came  into  the  office  where  he 
was  at  work,  and  accosting  him,  handed  him  a printed  slip 
saying,  “My  lad,  when  you  use  these  words  spell  them  as 
here  ; ‘theater’ — ‘center’  and  all  such  words  accordingly.” 
The  stranger  was  no  other  than  Noah  Webster,  the  great 
lexicographer,  who  was  then  traveling  on  foot,  visiting  the 
country  printing-offices  to  persuade  the  printers  to  adopt 
his  fashion  of  spelling.  Could  the  young  “ Printer’s 
Devil  ” have  looked  thirty  years  into  the  future  he  would 
have  seen  himself  at  the  head  of  a mammoth  establishment 
turning  out  thousands  upon  thousands  of  Webster’s  Una- 
bridged Dictionary  from  his  own  printing-office  and  bind- 
ery. Mr.  Houghton  entered  college  at  Burlington,  Ver- 
mont, with  a purse  containing  just  three  York  shillings, 
two  of  which  he  used  to  put  his  room  in  order,  leaving 
him  twelve  and  one  half  cents,  towards  his  four  years’  course 
of  education.  But  he  appreciated  the  fact  that  only  by 
hard  work  and  diligence  could  he  reach  the  goal  of  his 
ambition  ; therefore,  with  the  aid  of  a little  friendly  help, 
he  was  enabled  to  graduate  at  the  expiration  of  the  four 
years,  with  the  honors  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  Soon  after 
receiving  this  degree,  young  Houghton  engaged  with  the 
Boston  Evening  Traveller,  as  reporter,  at  a salary  of  five 
dollars  per  week.  He  was  engaged  in  setting  type  for  ten 
hours  of  each  day,  and  divided  the  remainder  of  the  twenty- 
four  between  reporting  lectures  for  the  paper  and  sleep. 
He  had  a very  retentive  memory,  being  enabled  to  write 
out  the  lecture  or  sermon  after  one  hearing,  the  editor 
being  always  pleased  with  the  accuracy  of  his  reports.  One 
day  the  editor  in  chief  said  to  Houghton  that  he  was  sick 
and  wanted  him  to  temporarily  take  his  place, — a very  re- 


H.  O.  HOUOIITON. 


273 


sponsible  position  for  so  young  a person.  He  did  not  hesi- 
tate, however,  to  take  his  seat  in  the  sanctum  as  Chief 
Editor  pro  tern.  One  day  as  he  went  home  to  dinner 
he  fell  in  with  one  of  the  passengers  of  the  ill-fated 
ship  “ Ocean  Monarch,"  which  had  recently  been  burned 
at  sea,  who  told  him  some  of  the  particulars  of  the  disaster, 
and  how  cowardly  the  captain  had  acted.  The  latter  was 
an  old  man,  a broken-down  merchant,  who  had  been  put  in 
charge  of  the  ship  for  the  sake  of  giving  him  a place.  Mr. 
Houghton’s  informant  told  him  that  as  soon  as  the  ship  was 
on  fire,  five  or  six  miles  out,  the  captain  got  in  a small  boat 
and  returned  to  Liverpool,  and  when  the  poor  creatures  on 
board  the  ship  were  struggling  for  their  lives  he  was  quiet- 
ly eating  his  dinner  in  that  city.  He  told  him  also  how 
the  colored  stewardess  went  into  the  hold  to  get  out  the 
powder  to  prevent  the  ship  from  blowing  up,  risking  her 
life  in  so  doing.  After  hearing  this  pathetic  story  the 
young  editor  returned  to  the  office  and  wrote  a long  ac- 
count, in  which  the  captain  was  severely  reprimanded  and 
the  stewardess  highly  praised.  This  article  created  a great 
sensation  in  Boston  at  the  time.  It  was  supposed  to  have 
been  written  by  a clergyman  who  was  connected  with  the 
paper.  The  other  city  papers  criticised  it  very  severely. 
“ What  does  a clergyman  know  about  a ship  ? Pretty  man 
he  is  to  talk  about  that,"  they  said.  Soon  as  the  English 
papers  arrived  they  were  found  to  criticise  the  captain  as 
severely  as  the  Traveller.  There  were  over  a hundred 
people  burned  with  the  ship  which  tragic  event  occurred 
in  1848.  A neighbor  of  Mr.  Houghton’s  in  Cambridge  who 
had  long  resided  there  was  continually  chaffing  the  former 
for  not  having  a will  of  his  own.  One  day  talking  upon 
this  subject  as  usual,  he  said,  “I  like  to  see  men  speak  their 
minds.  A good  many  years  ago  there  was  an  article  in  the 
Boston  Traveller  of  the  kind  I like,  about  a shipwreck, 
which  spoke  right  out  what  was  meant  and  gave  it  to  the 
captain  in  the  right  way."  He  went  on  saying  what  a good 
article  that  was,.  Said  Mr.  Houghton  to  bis  tormentor, 
12* 


274 


H.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


“I  wrote  that  when  I was  a boy.”  After  that  there  was 
no  more  chaffing  about  lack  of  will. 

While  engaged  in  the  office  of  the  “ Traveller”  Mr. 
Bolles,  of  the  firm  of  Freeman  & Bolles,  then  among  the 
leading  printers  of  Boston,  called  one  day  on  young  Hough- 
ton and  said  to  him  that  his  partner  desired  to  sell  out  his 
interest  in  the  firm,  and  that  he  should  like  him  to  buy  it, 
and  become  a partner.  Houghton  assured  Mr.  Bolles  that 
he  had  no  capital ; having  paid  off  his  college  debts  he 
stood  just  about  even  with  the  world,  had  no  claim  on  any 
one  this  side  of  Alabama,  and  could  not  see  his  way  clear 
to  raise  the  necessary  amount  of  capital. 

Mr.  Houghton  had  previously  worked  for  Mr.  Bolles, 
who  was  fully  convinced  as  to  his  capabilities,  and  urged 
him  to  exert  all  his  energies  to  raise  fifteen  hundred  dol- 
lars, the  amount  necessary  to  buy  out  the  interest  of  Mr. 
Freeman.  Mr.  Houghton  agreed  to  try.  The  first  friend 
he  called  upon  offered  to  lend  him  his  note  for  one  hundred 
dollars  at  six  months.  Taking  the  cue  from  this,  he 
called  on  various  parties,  among  others  the  publishers  of 
the  Traveller , and  succeeded  in  bringing  up  the  amount 
raised  to  five  hundred  dollars  in  promissory  notes,  which 
he  got  discounted  at  the  rate  of  one  per  cent  a month,  net- 
ting him  in  cash  much  less,  owing  to  the  big  rate  of  in- 
terest paid.  His  next  move  was  to  write  to  a friend  in 
Alabama  (whom  he  had  never  met  but  once)  in  regard  to 
the  matter.  His  friend  replied  that  he  would  guarantee 
the  payment,  provided  another  relative  would  furnish  the 
money.  A relative  of  Mr.  Houghton  did  so,  making  the 
capital  so  far  raised  about  one  thousand  dollars.  Thus 
the  matter  stood  until  the  last  day  of  grace  arrived  on 
which  the  offer  to  sell  would  stand  good,  and  still  there 
was  five  hundred  dollars  lacking.  Mr.  Houghton  was  non- 
plussed. He  could  not  conceive  which  way  to  turn  for  the 
required  amount  necessary  to  complete  the  purchase,  and 
by  this  time  he  had  become  very  anxious  to  secure  what  to 
him.  appeared  to  be  a good  opening  in  which  to  begin  a 


H.  O.  HOUGHTOTT. 


275 


business  life  in  the  trade  he  had  learned  and  for  which  he 
had  a fancy.  While  sitting  in  an  upper  room  of  Rand’s 
printing-house,  he  noticed  a stranger  coming  up  the  stairs 
who  had  inquired  for  him. 

When  he  arrived  at  the  spot  where  Mr.  Houghton  was 
sitting  he  introduced  himself  by  saying,  “ I am  from  Hew 

Hampshire  and  my  name  is  II . I married  your  cousin, 

and  I promised  my  wife,  should  I visit  Boston  I would 
look  you  up.”  Of  course  Mr.  Houghton  was  very  glad  to 
make  his  acquaintance,  and  after  some  conversation  concern- 
ing family  matters,  spoke  of  his  situation. 

“ Well  !”  was  the  reply,  “ if  five  hundred  dollars  is  all 
you  want,  I’ll  let  you  have  it.”  As  Mr.  Houghton  had 
never  seen  the  man  before,  indeed  knew  nothing  of  him, 
except  what  he  had  just  learned,  he  considered  the  kindly 
offer  providential  and  one  that  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
promptly  accept.  His  cousin’s  husband  had  scarcely  gone 
down  stairs  before  Mr.  Boiles  came  for  his  answer. 

Mr.  Freeman’s  interest  was  purchased,  when  the  firm 
became  Boiles  & Houghton.  The  product  of  the  first  year’s 
business  was  eighteen  thousand  dollars,  which  was  consid- 
ered marvelous  in  those  days. 

The  printing-office  at  this  time  was  removed  to  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.  The  copartnership  existed  until  the  year  1852, 
when  Mr.  Boiles  withdrew  from  the  firm,  selling  out  his 
entire  interest.  The  style  of  the  firm  afterwards  became 
H.  0.  Houghton  & Co.,  and  in  order  to  secure  more  desirable 
accommodations,  the  business  was  removed  to  the  present 
site  of  the  Riverside  Press,  where  Mr.  Houghton  became 
the  controlling  mind,  directing  all  the  resources  of  his 
increased  capital  and  educated  tastes,  to  the  superior  excel- 
lence in  typography  and  press  work  which  has  become  so 
famous  the  world  over. 

Mr.  Houghton’s  long  experience  as  a manufacturer  of 
books  for  other  firms  had  well-fitted  him  to  become  a book 
publisher,  and  he  soon  became  convinced  that  he  could 


276 


II.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


advantageously  combine  with  the  Riverside  Press  the  book 
publishing  business. 

Professor  0.  W.  Wight,  of  New  York,  a literary 
gentleman  of  some  means,  began  an  enterprise  of  causing 
to  be  stereotyped  standard  classical  works,  and  farming  out 
the  plates  to  book  publishers,  receiving  a reasonable  per- 
centage for  their  use  in  return  for  the  capital  invested. 

In  this  way  the  celebrated  French  classics,  Montaigne, 
Pascal,  De  Stael,  Voltaire  and  others  were  published  for 
him  by  Derby  & Jackson.  Professor  Wight  afterwards 
added  to  this  list  the  best  edition  probably  ever  published 
in  this  country,  of  Dickens5  works.  They  were  first  pub- 
lished by  W.  A.  Townsend  & Co.,  and  then  by  John  G. 
Gregory,  both  of  which  firmshaving  discontinued  business, 
the  stereotype  plates  became  the  property  of  Mr.  Hough- 
ton, and  Dickens’ works  proved  to  be  the  nucleus  of  the 
publishing  business  which  has  grown  into  its  present  mam- 
moth proportions.  In  1864  Mr.  Houghton  formed  a part- 
nership with  Melancthon  M.  Hurd,  of  New  York,  form- 
erly a well-known  and  experienced  bookseller  in  Bridge- 
port, when  the  house  of  Hurd  & Houghton  was  established 
in  this  city.  At  the  close  of  the  late  war  Albert  G.  Hough- 
ton, an  elder  brother  of  H.  0.  Houghton,  w7as  admitted  in 
the  New  York  firm.  I had  known  this  gentleman,  in  a 
business  way,  for  many  years.  Early  in  life  he  traveled  on 
horseback  from  his  native  Green  Mountains  to  the  cotton- 
growing State  of  Alabama,  w7here  he  organized  a large 
banking  and  commission  house,  in  the  interests  of  which 
he  worked  for  nearly  a quarter  of  a century,  when  the  war 
caused  the  loss  of  most  of  his  property.  He  never  had  an 
enemy,  and  was  much  esteemed  in  all  his  business  relations 
in  his  new  field.  His  death  on  the  14th  of  October,  1880, 
was  a source  of  regret  to  his  old  and  new-made  friends. 
His  sons  Oscar  R.  and  Albert  F.  Houghton,  are  still  con- 
nected with  the  firm — the  latter  having  charge  of  the  New 
York  office.  Mr.  George  H.  Mifflin,  a graduate  of  Harvard 


H.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


277 


and  a gentleman  of  book-loving  tendencies  was  admitted  as 
a partner  in  1872. 

Mr.  Mifflin  had  spent  four  years  at  the  Riverside  Press , 
becoming  familiar  with  every  detail  connected  with  the 
manufacture  of  books.  In  1878,  the  firm  of  James  R Os- 
good & Co.,  who  were  the  successors  of  the  old  and  well- 
known  house  of  Ticknor  & Fields,  was  consolidated  with 
Hurd  & Houghton,  and  H.  0.  Houghton  & Co.  The  latter 
firm  confining  themselves  entirely  to  the  manufacture  of 
books  at  the  Riverside  Press,  where  not  only  all  the  publi- 
cations of  Houghton,  Miflin  & Co.,  are  manufactured,  but 
those  of  many  other  book-publishing  firms  whose  imprint 
is  well-known  in  our  principal  cities.  Mr.  Osgood  with- 
drew from  the  firm  on  May  1st,  1880,  to  found  the  new 
publishing  house  which  now  bears  his  name.  Mr.  Lawson 
Valentine,  of  New  York,  a business  man  of  large  means, 
was  then  admitted  as  a partner  of  the  firm  of  Houghton, 
Mifflin  & Co.  The  catalogue  of  the  publications  of  this 
house  is  a study  in  itself.  There  is  no  list  of  books  that 
can  compare  with  it  in  the  number  and  names  of  the  great- 
est authors  this  country  has  ever  produced.  In  addition 
to  their  famous  edition  of  the  British  Poets  in  sixty-eight 
volumes  and  Dickens'  works,  and  the  Wayerley  Novels,  they 
are  the  publishers  of  the  works  of  James  Fenimore 
Cooper,  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  Henry  W.  Longfellow, 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  John  G.  Whittier,  James  Russell 
Lowell,  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  and  other  celebrated 
writers  of  prose  and  poetry.  Mr.  Houghton  gives  personal 
attention  to  the  immense  manufacturing  interests  at  the 
Riverside  Press,  as  well  as  at  the  Boston  office.  In  each 
place  he  may  be  seen  daily  giving  directions  to  the  various 
departments  which  go  to  make  up  the  manufacturing  and 
publishing  of  books.  At  the  factory  there  are  more  than, 
six  hundred  hands  employed,  all  of  them  contented  and 
prosperous.  The  firm  keeps  up  the  old-fashioned  appren- 
ticeship system,  the  boys  who  come  to  learn  the  trade 
being  indentured  and  taught  the  business  of  printing  and 


278 


H.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


binding,  they  generally  become  master  workmen  and 
rarely  desire  to  leave.  When  they  do,  however,  they  gener- 
ally succeed  pretty  well  elsewhere.  The  Riverside  Press 
has  frequently  given  parties  to  the  young  men  who  have 
completed  their  seven  years  apprenticeship.  On  one  of 
these  occasions,  Charles  Francis  Adams,  Professor  Long- 
fellow, Professor  Felton,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  and  other 
distinguished  people  were  present.  Among  others  of  the 
company  Mr.  Houghton  noticed  one  stranger.  Professor 
Felton  remarked  in  a speech  on  this  occasion,  that  he  had 
lately  attended  a dinner  party  at  which  a number  of  dis- 
tinguished persons  were  present,  among  whom  were  an 
English  earl  and  an  American  shoemaker,  and  said  Mr. 
Felton,  “It  was  a query  among  the  company,  which  was 
the  most  of  a gentleman,  the  earl  or  the  shoemaker.  ” 
While  the  Professor  wras  speaking  some  one  whispered  to 
Mr.  Houghton,  that  the  stranger  was  the  American  Shoe- 
maker. After  Professor  Felton  had  finished  his  remarks  Mr. 
Houghton  introduced  to  the  company  the  American  shoe- 
maker. The  Professor  looked  up  with  the  greatest  sur- 
prise and  said  he  had  not  the  slightest  idea  the  man  was 
present. 

Professor  Felton,  as  is  well  known,  was  a very  learned 
man,  and  at  this  very  entertainment  Mr.  Houghton  re- 
marked that  when  Harvard  University  wanted  a good  Presi- 
dent they  would  choose  him.  This  was  the  first  sugges- 
tion that  he  should  occupy  that  position,  which  was  sub- 
sequently filled  by  the  Professor  with  so  much  credit.  Mr. 
Houghton  once  told  me  that  a very  pretty  young  girl  came 
to  him  with  a manuscript  which  she  said  Mr.  Longfellow 
had  read  and  seemed  to  like  very  much,  but  she  herself 
would  not  be  surprised  if  it  was  rejected.  The  manuscript 
was  examined  and  its  publication  declined.  That  very 
evening  Mr.  Houghton  happened  to  call  upon  Mr.  Long- 
fellow, they  both  residing  in  Cambridge,  and  on  taking  his 
departure  Professor  Longfellow  followed  him  outside  of  the 
door,  and  asked  if  he  would  like  to  publish  another  book. 


H.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


279 


“ Yes,  we  are  always  looking  for  good  books  to  publish/’ 
replied  the  publisher. 

The  Professor  then  said,  “I  have, a young  friend  who 
has  written  a book  which  I have  read  and  can  recommend 
to  you.”  Mr.  Houghton  told  Mr.  Longfellow  that  he  had 
seen  the  young  authoress,  who  had  called  with  her  manu- 
script, but  did  not  tell  him  they  had  that  morning  refused 
the  book  for  satisfactory  reasons. 

Mr.  Whittier  and  Mr.  Houghton  were  speaking  one 
day  about  the  success  of  some  persons  in  awakening  sympa- 
thy. The  former  said  he  had  a letter  from  a woman  out 
West  who  stated  her  case  very  pathetically.  She  said  she 
wanted  to  buy  books  to  enable  her  to  cultivate  her  mind, 
and  she  was  away  from  any  place  where  she  could  get  them, 
and  she  was  very  poor.  Mr.  Whittier  thought  it  was  a 
good  cause  and  for  charity  sent  her  ten  dollars.  Soon 
after  that  Mr.  Whittier  came  to  Boston  where  he  met  T. 
W.  Higginson.  The  latter  told  him  that  he  wanted  to  be 
excused  for  a little  while  as  he  was  going  to  buy  a sewing- 
machine  for  a worthy  woman  out  West  who  had  written 
him  a nice  letter  and  had  aroused  his  sympathy,  and  he 
was  going  to  send  her  this  machine  as  a contribution. 
Whittier  asked  what  her  name  was,  and  discovered  that  it 
was  the  same  name  as  that  of  the  woman  who  had  written 
to  him.  Soon  after  this  he  fell  in  with  Gail  Hamilton  and 
she  told  him  of  a case  in  which  she  had  had  her  sympa- 
thies excited  and  had  sent  the  suffering  woman  fifty  dollars. 
On  comparing  notes  they  found  that  they  had  all  been  vic- 
timized by  the  same  person. 

In  a recent  visit  to  Boston  Mr.  Houghton  reminded  me 
of  a visit  to  my  office  in  Nassau  Street  in  1856  where  he  met 
Fletcher  Harper,  Professor  0.  W.  Wight,  Robert  Bonner 
and  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  the  latter  two  for  the  first  time. 
In  the  evening  he  accompanied  Professor  Wight  to  a party 
at  Alice  Cary’s,  on  which  occasion,  he  also  met  for  the  first 
time,  the  late  Bayard  Taylor,  and  his  new  German  bride, 
who  had  just  arrived  in  this  country,  and  many  other 


280 


II.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


literary  notables.  Mrs.  Taylor  has  just  completed  the 
biography  of  her  eminent  and.  lamented  husband,  whose 
labor  of  love,  in  book  form,  is  looked  forward  to  with  lively 
interest  by  thousands  of  her  late  husband’s  friends. 

Mr.  Houghton  says  the  acquaintance,  began  with  Alice 
and  Phoebe  Cary  on  the  evening  referred  to,  grew  to  be  a 
lasting  friendship.  A week  before  the  latter  died,  she 
telegraphed  Mr.  Houghton  she  would  start  the  next  day 
for  her  long  promised  visit  to  his  Cambridge  home.  The 
following  morning  she  telegraphed  again  that  she  was  not 
able  to  come  any  farther  than  Newport,  where  she  was  com- 
pelled to  stop,  and  where  she  died. 

Houghton,  Mifflin  and  Co’s  editions  of  Alice  and  Phoebe 
Cary’s  Poems  have  sold  largely,  and  continue  to  meet  with 
a steady  and  unabated  demand.  The  cause  of  this  popu- 
larity is  well  explained  by  Mr.  E.  H.  Stoddard  elsewhere. 

A notable  and  happy  custom  of  Mr.  Houghton  has  been 
the  giving  of  dinner,  breakfast  and  garden  parties  to  con- 
tributors to  the  Atlantic  Monthly , in  celebrating  some 
seventieth  birthday.  The  Whittier  dinner  party,  the  Holmes 
breakfast  party  and  the  Stowe  garden  party  were  all 
marked  occasions,  long  to  be  remembered. 

On  December  17th,  1877,  the  seventieth  birthday  of 
John  G.  Whittier  was  celebrated  at  the  Hotel  Brunswick, 
Boston,  by  a dinner  given  by  H.  0.  Houghton  & Co.,  at 
which  there  was  a gathering  of  the  most  noted  literary 
gentlemen  in  this  country.  Among  others,  the  famous 
quartette,  so  celebrated  in  verse  and  prose  in  the 
literature  of  our  country.  I refer,  of  course,  to  Henry  W. 
Longfellow,  Balph  Waldo  Emerson,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes 
and  John  Greenleaf  Whittier,  the  guest  of  the  evening. 
Mr.  Houghton,  presiding  as  host,  in  an  eloquent  address, 
began  by  saying  that  “the  gathering  had  met  to  celebrate 
the  arrival  of  the  twentieth  birthday  of  the  Atlantic  Month- 
ly and  the  seventieth  birthday  of  their  guest.”  In  his  re- 
marks Mr.  Houghton  recalled  many  interesting  reminis- 
cences connected  with  the  founding  of  the  Atlantic  Monthly . 


H.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


281 


Its  first  publishers,  as  many  of  my  readers  will  remember, 
were  Phillips,  Sampson  & Co.,  a house  of  great  enterprise 
and  sagacity,  who  were  laudably  ambitious  to  gather  around 
them  the  greatest  authors  in  poetry  and  prose,  and  especial- 
ly in  New  England.  Acting,  as  I did  at  that  time,  as  their 
New  York  agent,  I was  familiar  with  many  of  their  liter- 
ary undertakings.  The  magazine  was  started  in  the  panic 
year  of  1857,  and  notwithstanding  the  financial  condition 
of  the  country,  it  soon  became  an  established  literary  insti- 
tution; it  was  originally  stereotyped  at  the  Riverside  Press, 
with  the  celebrated  George  Nichols,  as  proofreader,  and  is 
now  manufactured  there.  Unfortunately  the  publishers, 
Messrs.  Phillips  and  Sampson,  the  two  senior  partners, 
died  soon  after  the  establishment  of  the  magazine  ; that 
firm  then  ceased  to  exist,  when  the  Atlantic  Mo7ithly  be- 
came successively  the  property  of  Tioknor  & Fields,  James 
R.  Osgood  & Co.,  and  finally  its  present  publishers, 
Houghton,  Mifflin  & Co.  Mr.  Houghton,  in  closing  his 
remarks,  said  : 

“During  all  the  years  of  its  existence  it  has  been  true  to  the 
principles  on  which  it  was  founded,  which  was  to  make  it  the 
leading  organ  of  the  literature,  art,  science  and  politics  of  this 
country.  While  thoroughly  New  England  in  its  instinct  and  cus- 
toms it  has  been  as  broad  and  powerful  as  even  its  great  namesake, 
the  Atlantic  Ocean,  in  its  influence  upon  American  literature.” 

Mr.  Houghton  closed  his  very  interesting  address  with 
the  following  statements  which  are  given  by  him  from  the 
standpoint  of  a long  and  close  experience,  vividly  illus- 
trating the  career  of  many  publishers,  and  the  experience 
of  many  authors  : 

“ In  securing  the  best  results  there  is  need  of  the  combina- 
tion of  the  best  business  talent  with  the  loftiest  efforts  of  author- 
ship. The  great  merit  of  the  first  Napoleon,  in  the  eyes  of  liter- 
ary men  of  a previous  generation,  was  that  he  had  threatened  to 
shoot  a publisher — possibly  because  that  threat  unexecuted,  more 


282 


II.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


than  Austerlitz  or  Waterloo,  indicated  his  courage!  But  it  is  not 
my  purpose,  nor  does  it  become  me,  to  defend  publishers  as  a 
class  against  literary  men.  If  I were  disposed  to  do  it  here  it 
would  be  imprudent,  as  you  are  ‘ too  many  ’ for  me.  There  is, 
probably,  no  business  strictly  legitimate,  so  speculative  and  so  un- 
certain in  its  results  as  that  of  publishing  books.  The  picture  of 
the  distraught  author,  with  his  massive  pile  of  manuscript  under 
his  arm,  and  his  ‘ eyes  in  fine  frenzy  rolling,’  is  not  more  mirth- 
provoking  or  truly  harrowing  in  its  effect  on  the  looker  on  than 
that  of  the  publisher,  who  with  his  own,  or  more  likely  borrowed, 
capital  strikes  hands  with  him  and  sits  down  and  counts  in 
advance  the  immense  profits  of  the  venture,  sees  visions  of  brown- 
stone  fronts,  palatial  seashore  residences  and  all  the  paraphernalia 
which  wealth  is  apt  to  inflict  upon  its  possessor.  But  alas!  the 
result  is  pretty  sure  to  be  loss  of  capital,  unpaid  printers’  bills, 
and  the  manuscript  which  came  seething  hot  from  the  brain  of 
the  poor  author  transmuted  into  cold  lead  and  then  con- 
signed to  a dungeon  to  await  the  fame  of  the  resurrection-day,  un- 
less previously  brought  out  to  be  melted  up  in  the  electrotyper’s 
furnace.  Publishing  and  authorship  must  necessarily  keep  pace 
with  each  other.  However  antagonistic,  they  travel  under  the 
same  yoke.  Even  in  the  two  short  decades  since  the  Atlantic  was 
started  they  have  made  some  progress.  It  is  only  a few  years 
since,  not  only  in  the  country  towns  but  in  the  cities,  that  pills 
and  poetry,  essences  and  essays,  drugs  and  dramas,  were  disbursed 
over  the  same  counter  and  by  the  same  hands.  In  the  process  of 
natural  selection  it  was,  perhaps,  logical  that  a decoction  of  poetry 
should  be  followed  by  a purgative  of  pills.  The  publisher  of  the 
first  collected  edition  of  the  works  of  our  revered  poet  wTas  also 
the  vender  of  Brandreth  pills.  He  made  a fortune,  and  I leave 
you  to  infer  whether  it  was  from  the  pills  or  the  poetry.  But, 
notwithstanding  all  these  discouragements,  the  business  of  pub- 
lishing books  has  its  uses  and  its  successes,  which  are  not  the 
result  of  fortunate  ventures,  but,  as  in  every  other  profession  or 
calling,  are  only  secured  by  thorough  knowledge,  patient  labor, 
and  a clear  conception  of  the  end  to  be  attained.” 

Oil  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Houghton’s  remarks  he  intro- 
duced the  guest  of  the  occasion.  Mr.  Whittier  arose,  be- 
coming very  much  abashed,  as  it  was  his  nature  to  be,  by 
the  cheering  and  long-continued  applause  of  those  present. 


H.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


283 


He  made  but  few  remarks,  saying,  “ My  voice  is  of  a tim- 
orous nature  and  rarely  to  be  heard  above  a breath.”  He 
then  called  upon  his  friend,  the  poet  Longfellow,  to  read  a 
poem  which  he  had  prepared  for  the  occasion.  Mr.  W.  D. 
Howells,  who  at  that  time  was  the  editor  of  the  Atlantic 
Monthly,  then  presented  Mr.  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  who 
read  Whittier’s  poem  “ Ickabod,”  after  which  Mr.  Howells 
introduced  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  who  read  one  of  his 
own  felicitous  poems,  pertinent  to  the  occasion. 

The  following  excellent  Bagatelle,  wrhich  appeared  in  a 
Western  paper  soon  after  the  Whittier  festival,  is  worthy 
of  ranking  with  Smith’s  Kejected  Addresses  : 

“MR.  HOUGHTON’S  MISTAKE. 

“ We  are  glad  to  learn  that  the  lady  contributors  to  the  Atlan- 
tic, who  did  not  attend  the  Whittier  dinner  were  not  disappointed. 
Indeed,  they  had  intended  all  along  not  to  be  present,  and  they  so 
indicated  to  Mr.  Houghton  in  letters  written  the  very  day  before 
the  dinner.  ‘ I hear  it  intimated,’  writes  Mrs.  Stowe,  ‘ that  I am 
to  be  selected  to  sit  at  the  right  hand  of  Mr.  Whittier.  Now,  my 
dear  Mr.  Houghton,  while  I am  deeply  grateful  for  the  compli- 
ment, I cannot  accept.  I believe  in  the  largest  freedom  for  every- 
body, and  I am  sure  the  gentlemen  who  participate  in  the  festivi- 
ties would  not  be  pleased  to  have  their  programme  embarrassed 
by  the  presence  of  ladies.  He,  he  1 I suppose  you  know  what  I 
mean.  One  of  these  days,  perhaps,  the  ladies  of  the  Atlantic  will 
have  a dinner,  and  I think  they  are  selfish  enough  to  desire  to  be 
alone.’  ” 

Mr.  Houghton  read  the  letter  and  said,  passing  his  hand  through 
his  hair,  “ I think  I have  forgotten  something.  I detect  sarcasm 
in  this.” 

“I  am  glad,  Mr.  Houghton,”  wrote  Harriet  Prescott  Spofford, 
“ that  you  have  decided  not  to  call  the  ladies  from  their  sylvan  sol- 
itude. I am  deeply  engaged  in  studying  the  peculiarities  of  some 
rushes  that  grow  upon  the  banks  of  the  beautiful  river  that  rolls 
by  my  door,  crystalized  at  present,  by  the  way — I mean  the  liver 
— in  the  mellowest  moonlight  that  ever  sifted  its  gold  upon  a 
beautiful  world;  so  I couldu’t  attend  anyhow.  Thank  you  for 
sending  no  invitation.  It  would  have  embarrassed  me  greatly. 


284 


H.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


“ Have  you  heard  that  Mrs.  Stowe  is  about  to  give  a dinner  ? 
Are  you  aware  that  there  is  to  be  a new  ladies’  magazine  ? But  I 
cannot  write  more.  Thank  you  again,  and  good-bye.” 

“Iam  quite  confident,  said  Mr.  Houghton,  looking  worried, 
“ that  there  is  an  inadvertence  somewhere.  It’s  very  singular  I 
did’nt  think  of  these  ladies  before.”  He  turned  wearily  and 
opened  a letter  from  Gail  Hamilton. 

“ Well,  my  boy,”  wrote  this  lady,  “ so  you’re  going  to  give  a 
dinner,  are  you  ? To  Mr.  Whittier,  the  dearest  and  best  for  whom 
my  soul  longeth  ? And  without  us  ? I didn’t  think  it  of  you, 
Mr.  Houghton.  I was  about  to  say  I didn’t  think  anything  of  you, 
but  I won’t.  You  can  thank  your  true  goodness  for  that.  O,  say 
nothing  of  that  last  check.  Seriously,  however,  I don’t  blame 
you.  If  there’s  anything  unpleasant  in  this  world,  it  is  a woman 
in  a wide  house — I mean  in  a banquet  hall.  I will  not  stop  to 
argue  the  wine  question;  I have  no  liquid  by  me  to  create  the 
necessary  inspiration.  I suppose  it  would  do  no  good  either — 
you  men  are  determined  to  have  your  own  way  always,  and  ours 
as  often  as  possible.  I write  to  say  that  I won’t  come,  and  to  in- 
sist that  Mr.  Whittier  and  the  rest  shall  not  break  their  hearts 
over  it.  Sufficient  is  it  on  these  occasions  to  break  bread,  and, 
perhaps,  also  heads.  I have  just  seen  a circular  in  behalf  of  a new 
ladies’  magazine.  Have  you  seen  it  ? Excuse  me  now.  I have 
an  engagement  to  spank  the  Administration  at  this  very  moment. 
Do  you  know,  by  the  way,  that  Mrs.  Spofford  is  about  to  give  a 
grand  dinner  to  the  lady  contributors  of  the  Atlantic  T" 

“Alas  ! for  my  stupidity!”  remarked  Mr.  Houghton,  his  face 
growing  pale,  and  his  knees  knocking  together.  “ This  great 
moral  earthquake  will  be  after  me  next.” 

“ Oh,  Mr.  Houghton,”  wrote  H.  H.,  enthusiastically,  “ I am  so 
pleased  to  hear  of  the  honor  to  £rand  old  Mr.  Whittier.  My 
pleasure  is  only  exceeded  by  my  joy  that  I am  not  to  be  there.  I 
should  be  highly  honored  by  being  permitted  to  be  in  such  com- 
pany, of  course,  but  I am  timid,  aud  I fear  that  literary  men  do 
‘ cut  up  ’ dreadfully— you  will  pardon  the  expression — on  these 
occasions.  Do  you  know,  Mr.  Houghton,  that  Gail  Hamilton 
talks  of  starting  a magazine  ? and  they  do  say  that  there  is  to  be 
a grand  literary  reunion  at  her  house,  or  rather  at  the  house  of  Mr. 
Blaine.  I shall  not  be  able  to  send  you  anything  for  some  time  to 
come.” 

“ Merciful  Heavens  !”  exclaimed  Mr.  Houghton,  “this  must 


II.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


285 


be  a conspiracy.  They  are  all  of  them  pleased,  and  yet  they  all 
seem  to  be  contemplating  the  worst  kind  of  retaliation.  I do  not 
understand  this  !” 

He  turned  with  a sigh  to  a letter  from  Philadelphia.  “You 
will  accept  my  regrets,”  said  Rebecca  Harding  Davis.  “ I can- 
not possibly  be  present.  I have  not  received  my  invitation,  but 
of  course  it  has  been  delayed  in  the  mail.  However,  none  of  that 
brilliant  gathering  will  feel  my  absence.  I am  not  so  presuming 
as  to  suppose  that  such  a slight  vacancy  in  so  immense  a place  will 
be  noticeable.  And  I do  know,  Mr.  Houghton,  that  gentlemen 
delight  to  be  by  themselves  at  times.  I hear  Helen  Hunt  and 
Louisa  M.  Alcott  have  put  their  heads  together  in  behalf  of  a 
ladies’  magazine  and  I understand  that  Rose  Terry  is  to  give  a 
dinner  to  several  well-known  writers  of  the  gentler  sex.  Such  a 
magazine  might  be  profitable,  and  I know  the  dinner  would  be 
delightful.” 

“ Now  this  is  dreadful”  said  Mr.  Houghton,  striking  the  desk 
with  his  clenched  hand.  “I  have  actually  been  applying  the 
paper-cutter  to  my  own  nose.  It  is  the  stupidest  thing  I ever  did 
in  my  life.  Why,  oh  ! why  could  I not  have  seen  this  result  be- 
fore ?”  He  though  very  fast  a moment,  and  then  his  face  bright- 
ened and  he  laughed  right  out.  “I  have  it  !”  he  exclaimed. 
“Two  months  hence  there  shall  be  a dinner  to  the  lady  contribu- 
tors of  the  Atlantic  Monthly.  It  shall  be  given  in  honor  of  Gail 
Hamilton’s  seventieth  birthday.” 

The  Holmes  breakfast  was  the  next  occasion  for  a simi- 
lar gathering.  Although  the  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast 
Table  was  born  August  29th,  so  many  of  his  friends 
were  absent — at  the  seashore,  the  springs  and  in  the  moun- 
tains— the  celebration  of  his  seventieth  birthday  was  ac- 
cordingly postponed  to  December  3rd,  1879.  Mr.  Hough- 
ton presided  as  before  and  from  his  address,  the  following 
felicitous  words  are  quoted  : 

“ Some  writer  has  said  that  a pure  despotism  and  a pure  demo- 
cracy are  identical.  We  have  present  here  to-day  a despot  who 
rules  us  with  imperial  sway,  and  we  all  acknowledge  his  author- 
ity, and  even  claim  that  it  is  not  his  power,  but  our  own,  which 
he  exercises  over  us.  It  is  our  thoughts  which  he  speaks;  it  is 


286 


II.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


our  humor  to  which  he  gives  expression;  it  is  the  pictures  of  our 
own  fancy  that  he  clothes  in  words,  and  shows  us  what  we  our- 
selves thought,  and  only  lacked  the  means  of  expressing.  We 
never  realized,  until  he  taught  us  by  his  magic  power  over  us, 
how  much  each  of  us  had  of  genius,  and  invention,  and  expres- 
sion. And  it  is  especially  fitting  that  we  should  honor,  even  in 
his  own  country,  a prophet  who  has  revealed  to  us  what  wonderful 
people  we  all  are.  It  is  also  fitting  that  he  who  was  present  at  the 
christening  of  The  Atlantic  Monthly , and  gave  it  its  name , should 
drink  a cup  of  tea  in  honor  of  its  attaining  its  majority,  and  en- 
tering, as  we  trust  upon  a new  career  of  usefulness. 

“We  have  had  before  this,  one  occasion  of  celebrating  the 
threescore  and  tenth  anniversary  of  one  of.  its  leading  writers. 
These  occasions  remind  us  both  of  the  age  of  The  Atlantic  and  of 
the  youthfuluess  of  its  various  contributors.  One  of  the  pleasant 
reminiscences  of  this  occasion  is  the  fact  that  most  of  the  leading 
contributors,  from  its  start  in  1857,  are  still  among  its  principal 
writers.  Besides  our  honored  guest,  Longfellow,  Emerson,  Whit- 
tier, Lowell  and  Mrs.  Stowe,  are  still  writers,  who  were  among 
the  original  contributors.  ....... 

“In  an  old  almanac  of  the  year  1809,  against  the  date  of 
August  29,  is  the  simple  entry,  ‘ Son  born.’  The  ink  with  which 
that  entry  was  made  was  blotted  with  the  coarse  sand  universally 
used  at  that  time,  and  that  sand  to-day,  firmly  imbedded  in  the 
ink,  still  glistens  on  the  record.  May  the  sands  of  this  life,  which 
blot  the  record  of  immortality  awaiting  our  autocrat,  be  as  adhe- 
sive, and  continue  for  many  years  to  come  to  give  out  its  corusca- 
tions of  light  and  truth  and  beauty  ! 

“Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I give  you  as  a sentiment,  ‘ The  Auto- 
crat of  the  Breakfast  Table.  O King  ! live  forever  ! ’ ” 

At  the  giving  of  the  toast,  those  at  the  table  arose 
and  enthusiastically  drank  the  health  of  the  poet  in  “ The 
cup  that  cheers  but  not  inebriates.”  Dr.  Holmes  imme- 
diately read  without  preface,  one  of  his  characteristic 
poems,  which  closed  witli  the  following  stanzas  : 

“ I come  not  here  your  morning  hour  to  sadden, 

A limping  pilgrim  leaning  on  his  staff, — 

I,  who  have  never  deemed  it  sin  to  gladden 
This  vale  of  sorrows  with  a wholesome  laugh. 


H.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


287 


“ If  word  of  mine  another’s  gloom  has  brightened, 

Through  my  dumb  lips  the  heaven-sent  message  came; 
If  hand  of  mine  another’s  task  has  lightened, 

It  felt  the  guidance  it  dares  not  claim. 

“But,  O my  gentle  sisters,  O my  brothers, 

These  thick  sown  snow-flakes  hint  of  toil’s  release; 
These  feebler  pulses  bid  me  leave  to  others 

The  tasks  once  welcome;  evening  asks  for  peace. 

“Time  claims  his  tribute;  silence  now  is  golden; 

Let  me  not  vex  the  too-long-suffering  lyre; 

Though  to  your  love  untiring  still  beholden, 

The  curfew  tells  me — cover  up  the  fire. 

“And  now  with  grateful  smile  and  accents  cheerful, 

And  warmer  heart  than  look  or  word  can  tell, 

In  simplest  phrase — these  traitorous  eyes  are  tearfull  — 
Thanks,  Brothers,  Sisters — Children — and  farewell!” 

Dr.  Holmes  also  gave  the  following  brief  reminiscence 
of  the  Atlantic  Monthly  : 

“The  establishment  of  The  Atlantic  Monthly  was  due  to  the 
liberal  enterprise  of  the  then  flourishing  firm  of  Phillips  & Samp- 
son. Mr.  Phillips,  more  especially,  was  most  active  and  sanguine. 
The  publishers  were  fortunate  enough  to  secure  the  services  of 
Mr.  Lowell  as  editor.  Mr.  Lowell  had  a fancy  th;it  I could  be 
useful  as  a contributor,  and  woke  me  from  a kind  of  literary 
lethargy  in  which  I was  half  slumbering,  to  call  me  to  active  ser- 
vice. Remembering  some  crude  contributions  of  mine  to  an  old 
magazine,  it  occurred  to  me  that  their  title  might  serve  for  some 
fresh  papers,  and  so  I sat  down  and  wrote  off  what  came  into  my 
head  under  the  title,  The  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table.  This 
series  of  papers  was  not  the  result  of  an  express  premeditation, 
but  was,  as  I may  say,  dipped  from  the  running  stream  of  my 
thoughts.  Its  very  kind  reception  encouraged  me,  and  you  know 
the  consequences,  which  have  lasted  from  that  day  to  this.” 

After  which  a touching  poem  by  Whittier  was  read  by 
the  late  James  T.  Fields,  the  verse  closing  as  follows: 


288 


H.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


“ His  sparkling  surface  scarce  betrays 

The  thoughtful  tide  beneath  it  rolled,— 

The  wisdom  of  the  latter  days, 

And  tender  memories  of  the  old. 

‘‘What  shapes  and  fancies,  grave  or  gay, 

Before  us  at  his  bidding  come! 

The  Treadmill  tramp,  the  One-Horse  Shay, 

The  dumb  despair  of  Elsie’s  doom! 

“The  tale  of  Avis  and  the  Maid, 

The  plea  for  lips  that  cannot  speak, 

The  holy  kiss  that  Iris  laid 

On  Little  Boston’s  pallid  cheek! 

“ Long  may  he  live  to  sing  for  us 

His  sweetest  songs  at  evening  time, 

And,  like  his  Chambered  Nautilus, 

To  holier  heights  of  beauty  climb! 

“ Though  now  unnumbered  guests  surround 
The  table  that  he  rules  at  will, 

Its  Autocrat,  however  crowned, 

Is  but  our  friend  and  comrade  still.” 

Mr.  Joseph  W.  Harper,  of  Harper  & Bros.,  Hew  York, 
■who  was  present,  made  one  of  his  usual  happy  impromptu 
speeches,  which  he  closed  as  follows  : 

“ On  this  occasion  it  is  a very  great  privilege  to  join  with  you, 
my  good  and  esteemed  friends,  the  publishers  of  the  Atlantic 
Monthly , in  honoring  your  authors.  Your  catalogue  as  publishers 
and  your  list  of  contributors  to  the  Atlantic  Monthly  (and  as  a 
publisher  I say  it  with  honest  admiration),  are,  indeed,  a roll  of 
honor!  But  your  authors  are  not  yours  only ; they  are  the  nation’s, 
because  their  thoughts  and  words  have  become  part  of  the  nation’s 
life.  To  apostrophize  them  in  the  language  of  a great  master, 
‘ Noble  and  illustrious  names!  kind  friends,  teachers,  benefactors! 
Who  shall  say  that  our  country,  which  continues  to  bring  you 
such  an  unceasing  tribute  of  applause,  admiration,  love,  sym- 
pathy, does  not  do  honor  to  the  literary  calling,  in  the  honor 
which  it  bestows  upon  you  V ” 


H.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


289 


The  birthday  party  given  to  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  to 
celebrate  her  seventieth  birthday  was  a continuance  of  the 
festivals  to  authors,  which  were  begun  by  a dinner  to  Mr, 
Whittier,  in  1877. 

The  beautiful  country-house  and  grounds  of  the  Hon. 
William  Claflin,  at  Newtonville,  near  Boston,  were  tendered 
for  the  occasion,  which  took  the  form  of  a garden  party, 
where  I had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  more  tlmn  two  hun- 
dred invited  guests  on  a beautiful  day  in  June,  1882.  Most 
of  those  present  are  names  well  known  in  literary  circles. 
Mr.  Houghton  presided  as  at  the  former  festivals,  and  in- 
troduced the  exercises  by  the  following  eloquent  remarks 
in  his  usual  happy  manner. 

“We  have  met  two  or  three  times  within  the  last  few  years  to 
set  up,  as  it  were,  milestones  in  the  lives  of  some  of  those  who  are 
justly  esteemed  the  creators  of  American  literature.  On  this  occa- 
sion one  thought  oppresses  us  all:  Two  of  the  most  eminent, 
whose  grace  and  benignity  cheered  and  exalted  our  former  gather- 
ings are  with  us  in  bodily  presence  no  more.  The  voice  of  our 
beloved  Longfellow  is  hushed,  but  the  cadences  of  his  sweet  songs 
will  vibrate  in  our  memories  while  life  lasts.  We  shall  never 
look  again  upon  the  benign  countenance  of  our  revered  Emerson, 
but  his  precepts  are  written,  as  with  the  point  of  a diamond, 
upon  our  hearts. 

“ We  come  together  again  to  celebrate  a birthday,  but  what  is 
the  number  of  the  birthday  we  will  not  inquire.  If  we  estimate 
the  age  of  our  beloved  guest  by  the  amount  of  work  she  has 
accomplished,  the  number  of  her  years  would  rank  with  those  of 
the  antediluvians.  But  if  we  judge  by  the  vigor  and  freshness  of 
her  writings,  and  by  her  universal  sympathy  with  young  and  old, 
we  must  say  that  she  has  discovered  the  fountain  of  perpetual 
youth,  somewhere  else,  if  not  among  the  everglades  of  Florida, 
where  Ponce  de  Leon  sought  it  in  vain.  You  have  all  doubtless 
heard  the  apocryphal  stories  of  the  difficulties  encountered  by  the 
author  of  Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin  in  getting  a publisher,  and  of  the 
marvelous  sales  of  the  first  editions;  but  few  here  probably  realize 
how  great  is  its  circulation  to-day.  This  book  began  by  being  a 
prophecy,  and  i3  now  history,  and  it  is  the  rare  felicity  of  its 
author  to  realize  this  fact  in  her  own  life-time. 


290 


H.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


“ The  story  has  been  repeated  under  every  sky,  in  every  land, 
and  translated  into  nearly  every  tongue.  Crowned  heads,  states- 
men, scholars,  and  the  people  have  alike  read,  wept  over,  and 
applauded  the  simple  story.  And  to-day  our  own  beloved  country 
is  redeemed.  Slavery,  with  all  its  attendant  evils,  has  disappeared 
forever,  and  no  one,  either  North  or  South,  desires  it  back  again. 

“But  the  production  of  ‘Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin’  is  not  the  only 
service  done  to  literature  by  our  honored  guest.  Her  other 
writings  are  inimitable  in  their  way,  as  illustrating  New  England 
life,  and  teaching  the  homely  virtues  of  truth  and  duty;  as,  for 
instance,  ‘The  Minister’s  Wooing,’  ‘Old-town  Folks,’  ‘Sam 
Lawson’s  Fireside  Stories,’  and  the  other  books  which  we  all 
know  so  well.  But  as  the  sun  in  his  meridian  splendor  eclipses 
the  orbs  of  night,  so  ‘Uncle  Tom,’  by  its  universal  human  inter- 
est, eclipses  these  other  books,  which  would  make  the  reputation 
of  any  author.” 


Mr.  Houghton  takes  great  interest  in  his  Cambridge, 
home,  where  the  press  which  he  founded  has  become  an 
institution  of  such  world-wide  reputation. 

It  is  a curious  and  interesting  fact  that  in  Cambridge 
where  the  first  University  of  America  was  founded,  more 
than  two  hundred  years  ago,  three  years  later  the  first 
book  printed  in  the  United  States  was  printed  there  by 
Stephen  Daye,  whose  name  has  been  given  to  one  of  the 
streets  adjacent  to  the  Riverside  Press.  It  was  entitled  the 
Baye  Psalm  Book,  of  which  a fac-simile  was  reproduced  by 
Mr.  Houghton  in  1862. 

On  his  fiftieth  birthday,  April  30,  1873,  a complimen- 
tary entertainment  was  given  the  founder  by  the  employees 
of  the  Riverside  Press,  at  which  time  a beautiful  orna- 
mental fountain  which  had  been  erected  in  the  front  of 
the  Press  was  inaugurated. 

Mr.  Houghton  once  told  me  that  in  his  experience  of 
more  than  thirty  years  as  employer,  he  had  never  dis- 
charged an  employee  from  the  establishment.  This  ex- 
emption comes  no  doubt  from  the  great  care  and  scrutiny 
which  he  always  manifests  in  engaging  employees. 


H.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


291 


In  closing  this  sketch  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  refer  to  the 
pleasant  relations  which  exist  between  Mr.  Houghton  and 
all  those  in  his  employ.  In  his  daily  walks  through  the 
printing  and  binding  rooms,  he  has  a kind  and  encouraging 
word  for  all.  In  return,  his  employees  are  much  devoted 
to  the  interests  of  the  Riverside  Press. 

Mr.  Houghton,  in  one  of  his  published  addresses,  speaks 
as  follows  of  the  City  of  Cambridge,  of  which  he  has  been 
Mayor: 

“Throughout  our  broad  land,  are  scattered  cities  and  towns 
which  possess  special  advantages  over  our  own  in  wealth,  popula- 
tion, beauty  of  situation,  and  in  many  other  respects;  but  nowhere 
can  one  be  found  which  combines  in  such  harmonious  proportion, 
all  the  elements — material,  social,  literary  and  religious — which  go 
to  make  up  the  ideal  of  a comfortable  and  happy  home  after  the 
true  New  England  type.” 


XV. 


JOHN  WILEY. 

John  Wiley  a familiar  Name — His  Father  travels  with 
Cooper — Publishes  his  “Spy”  and  “Pioneer” — The 
Bread  and  Cheese  Club — Bryant , Paulding , Halleck 
among  the  Members — John  Jacob  Astor  too  poor  to 
buy  Eggs — Forms  Partnership  with  Putnam — Pub- 
lishes John  Buskin’s  Works — Successful  Publishers — 
His  Golden  Wedding . 

rpHE  name  of  John  Wiley  has  been  familiar  to  the 
literary  world  for  more  than  half  a century.  He 
was  literally  born  into  the  bookselling  and  publishing  busi- 
ness and  has  probably  been  connected  with  the  trade  as 
boy  and  man,  longer  than  any  other  publisher  now  living  in 
this  country.  Mr.  Wiley's  father,  Charles  Wiley,  was  a 
publisher  of  books  in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century. 
He  was  a man  of  excellent  education  and  of  decided  literary 
taste.  It  will  probably  be  news  to  most  of  my  readers  to 
learn  that  he  was  the  first  publisher  of  the  works  of  J.  Fen- 
nimore  Cooper. 

Charles  Wiley  first  became  acquainted  with  that  distin- 
guished author  when  traveling  in  Western  New  York.  He 
found  in  Mr.  Cooper  an  exceedingly  pleasant  traveling  com- 
panion, but  never  dreamed  he  was  the  author  of  any  book, 
although  it  seems  that  he  had  at  that  time  written  Precau- 
tion, the  publication  of  which  was  not  a successful  under- 
taking. Mr.  Wiley  greeted  Mr.  Cooper  on  his  arrival  one 
day  in  New  York,  at  his  office,  and  was  very  much  sur- 
prised when  he  handed  in  a manuscript  of  a novel,  which 
he  said  had  just  been  written  by  himself,  entitled  “ The 
[292] 


JOHN  WILEY. 


293 


Spy.”  The  te:ms  of  publication  were  readily  agreed  upon. 
Very  soon  was  issued  the  first  volume  of  that  series  of  ro- 
mances, which  made  the  name  of  Cooper  as  famous  as  that 
of  the  author  of  the  Waverley  Novels;  this  was  in  1821,  and 
here  it  may  be  well  to  mention  that  Mr.  Cooper  decidedly 
objected  to  being  called  the  “ Sir  Walter  Scott  of  America,” 
for  Mr.  Cooper,  as  was  generally  known,  had  a very  good 
opinion  of  himself.  Next  followed  “ The  Pioneers,”  in 
1823,  and  the  next  year  he  published  “ The  Pilot,”  which 
was  the  first  of  the  series  of  Sea  Tales,  meeting  with  an  in- 
stantaneous and  unprecedented  success,  as  did  the  “ Spy,” 
both  in  Europe  and  America.  It  was  stated  that  Cooper 
wrote  this  in  great  haste,  because  of  the  recent  publication 
of  Sir  Walter  Scott’s  “ Pirate,”  a sea  tale,  but  which  Cooper 
held  was  not  correct  in  its  nautical  incidents  and  descrip- 
tions. 

After  Mr.  Cooper’s  novels  became  so  popular,  he  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  publishing  a novel  anonymously,  in  order 
to  judge  whether  the  book  would  sell  on  its  merits  alone, 
as  well  as  on  his  acquired  fame.  So  when  the  MS.  of  his 
next  book,  “ Lionel  Lincoln,”  was  ready  for  the  printer, 
his  name  was  to  be  omitted  entirely,  but  on  the  eve  of  pub- 
lication it  leaked  out  that  Cooper  had  written  it,  when  he, 
of  course,  had  to  acknowledge  the  authorship.  It  is  well 
known  that  this  book  was  not  so  successful  as  its  predeces- 
sors. Soon  after  this  Mr.  Wiley  died,  and  the  same  year 
Lea  & Blanchard  of  Philadelphia  became  Mr.  Cooper’s 
publishers.  When  Mr.  Cooper’s  name  first  appeared  as 
an  author,  it  was  simply  James  Cooper,  the  family  name  of 
Fennimore  had  been  dropped  by  him  for  some  reason,  but 
was  subsequently  restored. 

Mr.  John  Wiley  frequently  saw  Mr.  Cooper  at  his  fa- 
ther’s store,  where  he  was  a great  attraction,  drawing 
around  him  daily  many  literary  men,  among  them  William 
Cullen  Bryant,  James  K.  Paulding,  afterwards  Secretery 
of  the  Navy,  Eitz  Greene  Halleck,  for  the  two  latter  Mr. 
Charles  Wiley  was  their  first  publisher,  Gulian  C.  Ver- 


294 


JOHN  WILEY. 


planck,  Chancellor  Kent,  Durand,  the  artist,  Morse,  the 
inventor,  Mordecai  M.  Noah,  who  had  recently  published 
a pamphlet,  which  created  some  interest,  entitled,  “Wall 
Street,  or  ten  Minutes  Before  Three/’  William  L.  Stone, 
afterwards  author  of  the  “Life  of  Red  Jacket,”  which  was 
published  by  John  Wiley,  and  many  others.  Col.  Stone 
was  then  editor  of  the  New  York  Commercial  Advertiser . 

These  authors  had  a room  set  apart  for  them  in  the 
rear  of  Mr.  Charles  Wiley’s  book-store.  Col.  Stone  and 
others  were  daily  visitors  there.  The  room  was  christened 
“ The  Literary  Den.”  Mr.  John  Wiley  recollects  going  in 
one  night  after  Colonel  Stone,  who  possessed  a good  deal 
of  playful  humor,  had  been  there,  and  found  scribbled 
on  a sheet  of  paper  some  verses,  the  two  following  first 
lines  are  all  of  which  he  remembers  : 

“ One  night  .after,  tea,  Mr.  Editor  Stone 
Popped  into  the  ‘Den  ’ of  C.  Wiley’s  alone.” 

About  this  time  these  same  literary  gentlemen  under 
the  Cooper  leadership,  formed  what  was  called  the  “Bread 
and  Cheese  Club,”  being  purely  a literary  club.  Their 
meetings  were  held  at  the  Washington  Hotel,  on  Broadway, 
corner  of  Chambers  Street.  Members  were  admitted  by 
bread  and  cheese.  If  a name  was  proposed  for  admission 
to  membership,  and  any  cheese  was  found  on  the  plates, 
when  the  candidate  was  voted  for,  he  wras  rejected.  Each 
member  took  turns  as  caterer,  wearing  a key  as  his  badge 
of  office. 

Mr.  Halleck,  afterwards  a clerk  for  John  Jacob  Astor, 
frequently  visited  the  store.  Mr.  John  Wiley  says  that 
Halleck  related  to  him  a little  incident  about  Mr.  Astor, 
which  occurred  just  previous  to  his  last  illness,  illustrating 
his  economy  in  respect  to  his  own  personal  wants.  He  had 
been  quite  ill,  but  was  convalescing,  when  his  physician  ad- 
vised him  to  diet,  subsisting  chiefly  on  newly  laid  eggs. 
One  of  Mr.  Astor’s  daughters,  living  at  that  time  up  the 
Hudson,  used  to  send  them  to  her  father  daily,  which 


JOHN  WILEY. 


295 


greatly  benefited  him.  One  day,  however,  the  supply  was 
accidentally  not  forthcoming,  and  Mr.  Astor  said  he  could 
not  afford  to  buy  any  eggs  for  his  own  use.  As  it  is  well 
known,  Mr.  Halleck  was  one  of  Mr.  Astor’s  legatees,  being 
willed  the  munificent  sum  of  two  hundred  dollars  per  year. 
It  is  said,  however,  that  such  a sum  was  left  to  Mr.  Hal- 
leck in  accordance  with  a remark  once  made  by  him  in  the 
presence  of  Mr.  Astor  that  he  could  live  on  two  hundred 
dollars  per  annum. 

Mr.  Wiley  says  that  when  he  first  knew  Mr.  Cooper  he 
was  full  of  life  and  spirit,  of  a very  happy  temperament 
and  in  every  way  an  attractive  man.  In  after  years,  he 
became  somewhat  morose,  feeling  that  his  countrymen  did 
not  appreciate  him  or  his  efforts  in  their  behalf  when 
abroad.  On  his  return  in  1838,  John  Wiley  published  for 
him  “ A letter  to  my  Countrymen,”  in  which  he  gave  an 
account  of  the  controversy  he  had  with  the  French  Govern- 
ment, complaining  also  of  the  censures  which  had  been 
passed  upon  it  in  this  country,  and  of  the  deference  paid  to 
foreign  opinion.  The  volume  was  not  well  received  by  the 
reading  public.  Soon  after  this  he  became  involved  in  a 
quarrel  with  Horace  Greeley,  Thurlow  Weed,  James  Wat- 
son Webb,  and  William  L.  Stone,  because  of  some  of  their 
criticisms  upon  his  literary  works,  particularly  his  Naval 
History,  which  were  the  cause  of  the  several  libel  suits 
brought  against  those  editors,  and  with  which  the  public  is 
familiar.  He  said  in  one  of  his  letters,  “ I have  beaten 
every  man  I have  sued  who  has  not  retracted  his  libels.” 

Mr.  John  Wiley  commenced  business  for  himself  in  the 
year  1828,  becoming  the  New  York  agent  of  Thomas  Wardle, 
of  Philadelphia,  who  at  that  time  was  the  principal  importer 
of  English  books.  He  also  became  connected  as  their  New 
York  agent  with  Carey  & Lea,  of  the  same  City,  then  the 
leading  publishers  in  America.  In  1832  he  formed  with 
George  Long,  the  son  of  an  old  New  York  bookseller  of  the 
same  name,  the  firm  George  Long,  Wiley  & Long,  and 
after  the  dissolution  of  that  firm,  Mr.  George  P.  Putnam, 


29  6 


JOHN  WILEY. 


who  had  been  for  many  years  a clerk  for  Jonathan  Leavitt, 
became  Mr.  Wiley's  partner.  Mr.  Putnam  at  that  time 
had  but  just  attained  his  majority.  He  had  made  up  his 
mind  to  go  to  Europe  to  see  something  of  the  book  world 
abroad,  and  while  there  he  formed  the  acquaintance  of  the 
leading  book-publishers  in  Loudon  and  elsewhere. 

It  was  about  this  time,  that  Washington  Irving  became 
United  States  Minister  to  Spain. 

Mr.  Wiley  wrote  to  Mr.  Putnam  in  London,  suggesting 
the  propriety  of  a correspondence  with  Mr.  Irving,  relative 
to  the  publication  of  the  works  of  that  author  in  the 
American  series  of  the  “ Library  of  Choice  Reading."  Mr. 
Irving  had  had  an  arrangement  with  his  publishers, 
Carey  & Lea,  of  Philadelphia,  by  which  they  agreed  to  pay 
a given  sum  annually  for  the  right  of  publishing  Irving’s 
works.  The  contract  had  expired  by  its  own  limitation, 
and  the  publishers  did  not  care  to  renew  it,  there  being 
but  little  demand  for  the  works.  On  the  return  of  Mr. 
Irving  to  New  York,  he  called  upon  Wiley  & Putnam,  with 
a view  of  completing  the  arrangement  with  them,  for  the 
publication  of  his  works,  but  the  firm  having  decided  in 
1848  to  dissolve  partnership,  the  matter  was  deferred. 
Subsequently,  Mr.  Putnam  proposed  to  Mr.  Irving  to  be- 
come his  publisher,  but  at  the  same  time  suggesting  that 
Mr.  Wiley  should  have  an  equal  opportunity  to  make  an 
offer,  as  the  arrangement  with  the  firm  had  been  previously 
determined  on.  Mr.  Wiley  declining  to  make  any  pro- 
position, the  arrangement  was  then  concluded  with  Mr. 
Irving  by  Mr.  Putnam,  for  the  publication  of  his  works, 
the  result  of  which  undertaking  is  spoken  of  in  another 
chapter. 

One  of  the  early  undertakings  of  the  firm  of  Wiley  & 
Putnam,  was  the  publication  of  a series  of  volumes  under 
the  general  title  of  “The  Library  of  Choice  Reading, "above 
referred  to.  Those  of  my  readers  who  were  booksellers  and 
buyers,  about  the  year  1840,  will  remember  the  uniform  red- 
cloth  binding  and  the  popularity  of  the  volumes  as  they  ap- 


JOHN  WILEY. 


297 


peared  from  the  press.  The  series  was  edited  by  Evart  A. 
Huyckinck.  One  of  the  volumes  of  the  American  Series 
was  Hawthorne's,  “ Mosses  from  an  old  Manse."  The 
series  also  contained  a volume  of  Edger  Allan  Poe,  whom 
I subsequently  met  at  the  store  of  Wiley  & Putnam.  Poe 
had  been  previously  pointed  out  to  me  as  the  author  of  the 
Raven,"  which  was  then  all  the  rage.  It  first  appeared 
in  the  American  Whig  Review , where  I first  read  that 
wonderful  creation. 

At  this  time  I was  a bookseller  and  publisher  of  books 
at  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  buying  considerably  of  Wiley  and  Put- 
nam. Among  other  books  I remember  purchasing  was 
one  thousand  copies  of  Kinglake's  brilliant  “ Eothen  ; or, 
Traces  of  Travel  brought  home  from  the  East,"  one  of  the 
library  series  bearing  my  imprint  as  publisher. 

After  the  dissolution  of  partnership  with  Mr.  Putnam, 
Mr.  Wiley  continued  business  under  his  own  name,  and 
has  continued  the  publication  of  books  ever  since,  admitting 
in  the  year  1865  his  son,  Charles  Wiley,  and  in  1875  Wil- 
liam H.  Wiley,  the  firm  now  being  styled  John  Wiley  & 
Sons,  whose  publications  are  confined  chiefly  to  scientific 
text-books,  and  industrial  works. 

Among  their  miscellaneous  publications  those  of  John 
Ruskin  are  the  most  important  on  their  list.  The  first 
book  of  Mr.  Ruskin  published  by  this  firm  was  Modern 
Painters.  Mr.  Wiley  endeavored  to  open  a correspondence 
with  that  eminent  but  eccentric  author,  but  received  only 
a single  letter  from  him.  Mr.  Ruskin  has  seemingly 
never  cared  to  have  anything  to  do  with  American  publish- 
ers nor  with  anything  American.  He  has  been  for  years 
his  own  publisher  though  his  friend  and  agent  George 
Allen,  and  English  booksellers  have  to  purchase  their 
supplies  of  Mr.  Ruskin  direct,  and  at  a nominal  dis- 
count of  not  more  than  ten  per  cent.  Mr.  Ruskin,  as  may 
not  be  generally  known,  has  a great  distaste  for  any 
thing  American.  He  is  said  to  have  remarked  at  one 
time  he  would  like  to  see  New  York  blotted  out  of 
12* 


298 


JOHN  WILEY. 


existence.  Mr.  Wiley  thinks  that  this  strange  feeling 
against  this  country  is  mainly  due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  a 
new  country,  Mr.  Kuskin  believing  intensely  in  all  things 
old — Ancient  Architecture,  old  Cathedrals,  old  Ways — 
Modern  Innovations  being  very  offensive  to  him.  His 
work  on  Modern  Painters  was  written  with  a view  to  bring 
the  artist  Turner,  in  whom  he  was  greatly  interested,  be- 
fore the  public. 

Copies  of  the  original  editions  of  “ The  Stones  of 
Venice"  and  “ The  Seven  Lamps  of  Architecture,"  when 
they  can  be  found  in  London,  bring  from  three  to  five  hun- 
dred dollars  for  the  set  of  nine  volumes.  Wiley  & Sons’ 
various  editions  of  Kuskins  works  have  reached  a consider- 
able sale  in  this  country. 

A year  or  two  since,  Mr.  John  Wiley  celebrated  his 
golden  wedding,  from  which  it  may  be  inferred  that  he  is 
no  longer  a young  man,  but  his  bright  eye,  raven  hair, 
slightly  streaked  with  gray,  and  elastic  step,  indicate  any 
thing  but  age.  I first  knew  him  nearly  a half  a century 
ago.  Long  may  he  continue  to  illustrate  the  virtues  of  an 
upright  man  and  continue  his  career  as  a successful  pub- 
lisher. 


XVI 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 

In  the  Front  Rank  of  Publishers — Fellow  Clerk  with 
William  II.  Appleton — Becomes  an  Author  at  Eigh- 
teen— Starts  a Branch  in  lonclon — Effectually  refutes 
Alison , the  Historian — Bayard  Taylor  applies  for 
Aid — Beginning  of  a long-lived.  Friendship — Edgar 
A.  Poe  astonishes  the  Natives — James  Bussell  EowelVs 
Fables — The  “ Wide  Wide  World”  and  “Providence” 
— Becomes  Irving’s  Publisher — Asto7iishes  John  Bull 
with  “ Sketch-Book  ” — Establishes  Putnam’s  Magazine 
— First  Advocate  of  International  Copyright — Prince 
Albert , Irving  and  Putnam — Irving’s  First  and  only 
love — Thackeray  Lectures  at  Honkers — Mr.  Put- 
nam’s Sudden  Death  Mourned  and  Greatly  Regretted 
— G.  P.  Putnam’s  Sons. 

TN  the  front  rank  of  our  distinguished  book-publishers 
belongs  the  honored  name  of  George  P.  Putnam,  who 
for  nearly  half  a century  gave  lustre  to  the  world  of  letters 
and  books.  From  a very  early  age  to  the  day  of  his 
lamented  death,  he  devoted  his  business  life  to  the  vocation 
of  his  choice. 

He  was  first  employed,  when  about  fourteen  years  of 
age,  by  George  W.  Bleecker,  in  a small  book-store  in  New 
York,  at  a yearly  salary  of  twenty-five  dollars,  exclusive  of 
board  and  lodging.  He  afterwards  took  a position  under 
Jonathan  Leavitt,  where  he  had  sp'ecial  charge  of  the  pub- 
lications of  Crocker  & Brewster  of  Boston,  Mr.  Leavitt 
being  their  New  York  agent,  and  where  at  one  time  Wil- 
liam H.  Appleton  was  a fellow  clerk. 


[2991 


300 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


In  the  year  1832,  young  Putnam  began  his  first  literary 
work,  the  compilation  of  an  “Index  to  Universal  History,” 
which  was  the  foundation  of  the  important  work — “The 
World’s  Progress,”  referred  to  hereafter.  It  was  printed 
and  published  by  Mr.  Leavitt,  who  at  that  time  had  asso- 
ciated with  him  as  a special  partner,  the  late  Daniel 
Appleton.  The  young  author  was  much  delighted  at  the 
success  of  his  first  venture,  .the  small  edition  being  readily 
disposed  of. 

His  next  undertaking  was  a monthly  register  of  new 
publications  called  The  Bookseller’s  Advertiser.  This  was 
commenced  in  January,  1834,  when  still  in  his  teens,  and 
was  printed  by  JohnJF.  Trow,  and  lasted  until  December  of 
the  same  year,  in  which  number  appeared  the  following 
valedictory  : 

“ With  the  present  number  this  little  journal  expires.  It  was 
commenced  with  the  idea  that  it  would  be  useful,  not  only  to 
publishers,  but  to  all  who  are  interested  in  the  literature  of  the 
day,  and  it  is  a satisfaction  to  know  that  however  imperfectly  it 
has  been  conducted  amidst  other  responsibilities,  it  has  been  well 
received  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  and  has  been  noticed  in 
complimentary  terms  by  various  contemporaries.  I resign  it 
because  it  cannot  be  properly  attended  to  without  interfering 
with  more  legitimate  duties  or  infringing  on  midnight  hours.” 

In  the  year  1836,  Mr.  Putnam  became  a partner  in  the 
publishing-house  of  Wiley  & Long,  contributing  to  the 
capital  stock  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  in 
cash  ; but  what  was  more  important  than  capital  to  them  at 
that  time,  was  his  thorough  acquaintance  with  authors  and 
publishers,  which,  to  the  new  firm,  was  invaluable.  He  wras 
soon  sent  to  Europe,  where  he  made  the  acquaintance  of 
many  authors  and  the  more  important  members  of  the 
book-trade.  Establishing  on  one  of  his  visits  to  London, 
in  1838,  a branch-house — Mr.  Long  having  retired — the 
new  firm  continued  in  both  places  as  Wiley  & Putnam. 
This  was  the  first  American  house  ever  established  in  Lon- 
don for  the  publication  of  books,  Mr.  Putnam  becoming  a 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


301 


zealous  representative  of  American  interests.  It  became  a 
favorite  resort  for  all  Americans  residing  or  traveling  in 
Europe,  who  were  interested  in  literary  matters. 

About  that  time  Alison,  the  celebrated  historian,  pub- 
lished his  “ History  of  Europe,”  in  which  appeared  many 
passages  regarding  the  progress  of  literature  in  America, 
which  were  anything  but  friendly  or  true.  To  the  state- 
ments and  assertions  made  by  Alison,  Mr.  Putnam  made 
a most  effectual  reply,  in  a published  volume  prepared  by 
him  entitled  “American  Facts,”  in  which  he  proved  con- 
clusively the  ignorance  of  the  famous  historian  as  to  the 
real  condition  of  American  literature.  The  circulation  of 
this  volume  did  much  to  increase  respect  for  the  people 
of  the  United  States  in  Europe.  Mr.  Putnam  remained 
in  charge  of  the  London  house  until  1848,  having  resided 
there  seven  consecutive  years,  after  which  he  returned  to 
New  York. 

In  the  year  1847  Mr.  Putnam  received  a call  at  his 
office  in  Waterloo  Place  from  a young  American  printer, who 
had  been  making  a journey  through  the  continent,  and 
whose  funds  were  exhausted.  Some  remittances  he  had 
expected  had  not  come  to  hand,  and  he  was  entirely  desti- 
tute of  the  means  of  support,  endeavoring  to  secure  work 
at  his  trade  in  a London  printing  office,  where  he  succeed- 
ed temporarily,  but  was  thrown  out  of  the  first  position  he 
secured  through  the  jealousy  of  English  compositors,  who 
wrere  not  willing  to  have  in  the  office  a foreigner  not  belong- 
ing to  their  typographical  guild.  Mr.  Putnam  sympathiz- 
ing with  the  young  American,  gave  him  temporary  clerical 
work.  This  timely  assistance  laid  the  foundation  of  a 
friendship,  a very  close  one,  which  lasted  as  long  as  their 
lives. 

Within  a year  after  the  acquaintance  thus  formed,  Mr. 
Putnam  had  the  pleasure  of  publishing  the  narrative  of 
this  young  printer's  trip  over  the  continent  under  the 
title  of  “ Views  Afoot,  or  Europe  seen  with  Knapsack  and 
Staff,”  by  Bayard  Taylor.  On  its  publication,  the  English 


302 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


reviews  gave  it  unstinted  praise.  The  London  Athenceum 
said  : 


“ That  among  the  hundreds  of  volumes  already  issued  on  the 
same  subject,  Mr.  Bayard  Taylor’s  is  the  best  and  the  liveliest.  We 
too  are  richer  for  his  travels  by  the  amount  of  an  earnest,  manly 
and  sensible  book.  There  is  nothing  more  graphic  in  De  Foe.” 

At  this  time  young  Taylor  was  but  twenty-one  years  of 
age.  This,  the  first  volume  of  his  travels,  has  continued 
in  demand  for  more  than  forty  years,  reaching  a sale  of 
over  one  hundred  thousand  copies.  Mr.  Putnam  continued 
the  publication  of  Bayard  Taylor’s  Travels  as  they  appear- 
ed from  time  to  time,  all  of  which  met  with  unvarying  suc- 
cess. 

Another  visit  of  a singular  character  which  Mr.  Putnam 
received  about  this  time,  was  from  Edgar  A.  Poe.  The 
latter  had  brought  some  notes  of  introduction  to  Mr.  Put- 
nam to  whom  he  represented  that  he  had  accidentally 
secured  from  a family  in  Nantucket,  the  narrative  of  a 
Nantucket  Seaman,  containing  his  adventures  in  the  Arc- 
tic regions.  As  the  London  public  were  specially  excited 
at  that  time  in  consequence  of  the  expedition  of  Sir  John 
Franklin  to  the  polar  seas,  Mr.  Putnam,  after  glancing  over 
the  MS.,  which  bore  on  its  face  an  air  of  realism  and 
made  the  story  of  the  discovery  of  the  MS.  plausible 
enough,  accepted  and  published  the  book.  It  was  written 
in  good  but  rather  rough  style,  such  as  a Nantucket  sea- 
man might  naturally  use.  In  the  haste  to  get  the  matter 
into  type  before  a certain  date,  having  a connection  with 
this  Arctic  expedition,  Mr.  Putnam  had  not  time  to  com- 
plete the  reading  of  the  MS,  but  sent  it  at  once  to  the  com- 
positors. It  was  not  until  after  the  book  was  published 
and  he  had  read  the  criticism  of  the  volume  in  the  Satur- 
day Review  and  other  influential  journals,  that  he  found  it 
necessary  to  read'  the  concluding  page  which  ends  as  my 
readers  may  remember  with  the  drowning  of  all,  leaving  no 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


303 


possibility  for  the  narrator  to  reach  home  to  tell  the  story, 
and  the  Saturday  Review  naturally  inquired,  “ What  is 
this  Yankee  publisher  giving  us  ? ” The  narrative  of 
Arthur  Gordon  Pym  was  one  of  the  improbable  creations 
so  prolific  in  Mr.  Poe's  brain. 

After  this,  Mr.  Putnam  never  published  a book  bear- 
ing his  imprint  without  first  completing  the  reading  of  it, 
or  having  it  read  by  a trusty  reader,  with  one  exception, 
which  will  be  referred  to  hereafter.  In  this  connection,  it 
may  be  well  to  mention  another  call  made  by  Mr.  Poe  on 
Mr.  Putnam  in  1849,  soon  after  the  latter's  return  to 
New  York.  Poe  called  at  his  Broadway  book-store 
after  he  had  apparently  dined  a little  heavily,  sat  down 
and  wrote  furiously  until  long  after  business  hours,  when 
the  porter  was  obliged  to  close  the  store,  thus  virtually  turn- 
ing him  out.  The  next  morning  Poe  brought  to  Mr.  Put- 
nam the  MS.  he  had  just  written,  and  with  a good  deal  of 
solemnity  declared  he  had  arrived  at  the  solution  of  the 
secret  of  the  Universe,  which,  when  published,  would  make 
millions  of  dollars  for  both  author  and  publisher.  The 
millions  were  only  in  Poe's  brain,  for  the  first  edition  of 
Eureka,  the  work  in  question,  was  never  exhausted  by  the 
current  sales. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  to  state  that  the  name  of  Put- 
nam is  yet  connected  with  the  publication  of  Poe's  works. 
The  present  firm  is  now  issuing  a limited  edition  de  luxe 
for  subscribers  only.  The  specimen  volumes  indicate  that 
it  will  not  only  be  the  handsomest  edition  of  Poe  which 
has  yet  appeared,  but  one  of  the  most  elegant  of  the  much 
sought  after  de  luxe  editions  of  standard  authors. 

In  1848,  Mr.  Putnam  issued  James  Russell  Lowell's 
Fable  for  Critics  which  created  at  that  time  something  of  a 
literary  sensation. 

The  volume  was  affectionately  inscribed  to  Charles  F. 
Briggs,  whose  nom  de  plume  “ Harry  Franco  " was  then 
well  known  in  the  literary  world.  Mr.  Briggs  was  a great 
admirer  of  Mr.  Lowell's  genius.  It  was  through  him  that 


304 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


I had  the  pleasure  of  an  introduction  to  that  distinguished 
gentleman  now  so  famous  as  an  author  and  diplomat,  rep- 
resenting the  United  States  at  the  court  of  St.  James,  with 
credit  to  himself  and  honor  to  his  country.  The  unique 
title-page  is  well  worth  reproducing  here  : 

A 

FABLE  FOB  CBITICS; 

OR,  BETTER, 

A GLANCE 

AT  A FEW  OF  OUR  LITERARY  PROGENIES 
(Mrs,  Malapropos  word) 

FROM 

THE  TUB  OF  DIOGENES ; 

A VOCAL  AND  MUSICAL  MEDLEY, 

THAT  IS, 

A SERIES  OF  JOKES 

33g  a tUonherful 

who  accompanies  himself  with  a rub-a-dub-dub , full  of  spirit  and  grace , 
on  the  top  of  the  tub. 

Set  forth  in  October,  the  31st  day. 

In  the  year  ’48,  G.  P.  Putnam,  Broadway. 

That  popular  novel  “The  Wide  Wide  World,”  by  Miss 
Warner,  had  a singular  advent  into  book  form.  Mr.  Put- 
nam was  interested  in  the  story,  but  thought  it  did  not 
possess  the  qualities  likely  to  insure  its  popularity,  while 
its  great  length  (it  contained  matter  enough  for  two  vol- 
umes) was  not  favorable  to  its  success.  His  literary  advi- 
sers all  counselled  him  against  it.  His  mother,  however, 
happened  to  get  hold  of  the  MS.  and  after  reading  it,  said 
to  her  son,  “ George,  that  is  too  good  a book  not  to  come 
into  print,  you  must  print  it !”  He  took  his  mothers 
advice  and  published  it.  For  months  after  it  was  issued. 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


305 


Mr.  Putnam  began  to  think  he  would  have  to  charge  the 
loss  account  to  the  score  of  filial  obedience.  The  book  re- 
mained stocked  upon  the  shelves  apparently  without  com- 
mercial value.  His  mother  tried  to  cheer  him  by  saying 
“ that  the  book  was  so  good,  she  was  sure  that  Providence 
would  aid  him  in  the  sale  of  it."  As  a matter  of  fact, 
Providence  did  help  the  matter  out.  The  first  favorable 
review  of  the  work  appeared  in  a Providence  paper,  and  the 
first  large  order  that  was  received  was  from  a Providence 
bookseller.  The  sale  in  a few  months  amounted  to  over 
40,000  copies,  which  yielded,  of  course,  a large  profit  to  both 
author  and  publisher.  Miss  Warner’s  next  novel,  “ Quee- 
chy,"  was  nearly  as  successful  ; although  these  two  books 
were  published  more  than  thirty  years  ago,  they  have  been 
selling  steadily  ever  since.  They  are  almost  the  only 
American  novels  published  one-third  of  a century  ago,  that 
have  a continued  sale. 

Mr.  Putnam  about  this  time  published  Dr.  J.  G.  Hol- 
land's novel  “ Bay  Path,"  which  wa?S  as  much  a failure  as 
his  later  works  published  by  Scribner,  have  been  suc- 
cesses. 

In  the  year  1854,  Mr.  David  A.  Wells  became  associated 
with  Mr.  Putnam  as  a special  partner.  Mr.  Wells  is  the 
well  known  writer  on  Political  Economy  and  author  of 
The  Year's  Book  of  Facts.  He  had  had  no  experience  in 
bookselling,  but  wanting  to  make  himself  useful  as  a mem- 
ber of  the  firm,  and  finding  on  the  books  certain  uncol- 
lected accounts  against  prominent  Yew  York  citizens, 
he  asked  his  senior  in  a general  way,  whether  it  wrould  not 
be  a good  thing  to  collect  all  of  the  over-due  accounts.  Mr. 
Putnam  naturally  replied  it  was  a very  desirable  thing  to 
do.  Thereupon  his  energetic  junior  wrote  sharp  letters  to 
the  delinquents,  among  whom  unfortunately,  were  a num- 
ber of  prominent  people,  including  some  literary  men,  who 
although  responsible,  were  not  generally  prompt  in  the 
payment  of  their  accounts,  and  with  whom  it  was  of  course 
important  to  keep  on  good  terms.  Mr.  Putnam  was  hor- 


306 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


rifled  during  the  next  few  days  to  receive  indignant  calls 
from  old  and  responsible  citizens  to  know  why  they  were 
thus  threatened  with  the  terrors  of  the  law.  Most  of  them 
he  was  of  course  able  to  appease  with  satisfactory  explana- 
tion. Mr..  John  Wiley,  who  was  present,  said  it  was  the 
only  time  in  which  he  ever  saw  Mr.  Putnam  angry,  during 
the  whole  of  their  lifelong  acquaintance.  It  is  not  sup- 
posed that  this  incident  was  incorporated  in  the  next  edi- 
tion of  Mr.  Wells’  Year  Book  of  Facts.  The  latter  soon 
retired  from  the  firm  to  the  more  congenial  atmosphere  of 
authorship,  in  which  he  now  holds  a high  rank. 

The  publication  of  the  works  of  Washington  Irving 
was  the  first  important  undertaking  of  Mr.  Putnam  after  he 
established  himself  alone  in  1848.  The  volumes  which  had 
previously  appeared  from  Irving’s  pen  had  for  three  years 
been  out  of  print.  As  previously  stated,  the  Philadelphia 
publishers  who  had  had  charge  of  them  had  not  felt  suffi- 
cient encouragement  to  undertake  the  preparation  of  new 
editions.  In  fact  they  had  practically  advised  Mr.  Irving, 
that  while  his  material  was  certainly  very  pleasant,  and  had 
met  with  a fair  success,  it  would  hardly  be  considered  as 
belonging  to  permanent  literature.  Mr.  Irving  had  become 
so  completely  discouraged  as  to  his  literary  prospects,  that 
he  told  one  of  his  nephews,  he  supposed  he  would  have 
to  turn  his  hands  to  something  else  for  a living,  and  as  his 
previous  business  experience  had  not  given  him  a very  good 
idea  of  his  own  capacity,  he  was  very  much  in  doubt  which 
way  to  turn.  At  this  time  of  his  despondency,  came  a 
proposition  from  Mr.  Putnam  to  undertake  the  publication 
of  the  books  then  in  existence,  which  Mr.  Irving  readily 
accepted.  The  following  are  the  terms  agreed  upon  as 
stated  by  Pierre  M.  Irving,  in  his  interesting  “ Life  of 
Washington  Irving 

“The  agreement  with  Mr.  George  P.  Putnam,  by  which  Mr. 
Irving  was  to  prepare  revised  copies  of  all  his  works  for  publica- 
tion, bears  date  July  26th,  1848.  By  this  arrangement,  which 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


307 


was  to  continue  for  five  years,  Mr.  Putnam  was  to  have  the  exclu- 
sive right  of  publishing  his  already  published  works  and  writings, 
in  uniform  duodecimo  volumes  until  the  whole  series  was  com- 
pleted, at  such  intervals  as  the  publisher  might  find  most  advan- 
tageous for  the  mutual  interest  of  the  parties.  He  had  the  right 
also  to  publish  one  or  more  of  the  works  in  a larger  size  and  illus- 
trated. Mr.  Putnam  was  to  be  at  the  whole  charge  of  publication 
‘including  all  the  expenses  thereto  incident,’  and  was  to  pay  Mr. 
Irving  twelve  and  a half  per  cent,  on  the  retail  price  of  all  the 
copies  sold.  The  accounts  of  sales  were  to  be  balanced  at  the  end 
of  the  year  commencing  with  July,  1849;  and  the  author  was  to 
receive  in  notes  at  four  months,  the  amount  accruing  to  him  at  the 
above  rate;  but,  as  Mr.  Putnam  agreed  to  pay  him  in  quarterly 
payments,  one  thousand  dollars  for  the  first  year,  fifteen  hundred 
for  the  second,  and  two  thousand  for  the  third,  fourth  and  fifth 
years,  all  of  which  payments  -were  to  be  made  on  account  of  the 
percentage  above  specified,  in  the  confident  expectation  of  the 
publisher  that  the  year’s  receipts  would  overrun  the  amount 
advanced,  and  that  the  author  would  have  a surplus  to  receive  at 
the  stated  period  of  settlement.  In  case  of  a disappointment  in 
this  particular,  and  that  the  percentage  within  the  year  should 
not  amount  to  the  sum  or  sums  advanced,  the  author  was  not 
called  upon  to  refund  any  part  of  the  advance.  In  other  words, 
by  this  agreement,  Mr.  Putnam  was  answerable  for  the  payment 
of  eight  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  the  sum  provided  for  in  the 
several  annual  advances,  whatever  be  the  amount  of  the  percent- 
age; but  whenever  this  guarantee  of  eight  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars  should  be  covered  by  the  gross  amount  of  profits  received 
by  Mr.  Irving,  the  advances  were  to  cease;  or,  if  continued  at  the 
stipulated  rate,  and  at  the  annual  settlement,  it  should  appear 
that  they  had  overrun  the  percentage,  the  author  was  to  refund 
the  difference.” 

It  may  be  interesting  to  know  that  at  no  subsequent 
period,  did  the  actual  payments  for  royalty  fail  to  con- 
siderably exceed  the  minimum  above-named.  Before  the 
death  of  Mr.  Irving  he  took  pains  to  make  a complete  re- 
vision of  nearly  all  of  his  works,  adding,  omitting  and 
largely  altering  them. 

In  1857,  when  Mr.  Putnam  was  in  business  difficulties, 


308 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


Mr.  Irving  stepped  forward  and  took  control  of  the  stereo- 
type plates  which  had  been  Mr.  Putnam’s  property,  advan- 
cing upon  these  plates  what  money  was  needed.  Mr. 
Irving  was  in  a position  to  purchase  the  plates,  if  he  de- 
sired, and  such  purchase  would  have  been  very  advan- 
tageous to  him.  He  preferred,  however,  simply  to  hold 
them  for  Mr.  Putnam,  replacing  the  latter  in  control,  a few 
years  later.  During  this  time  he  received  numerous  propo- 
sitions for  the  transfer  of  his  writings  to  different  houses 
in  Boston  and  Philadelphia,  but  he  told  Mr.  Putnam 
subsequently,  that  as  long  as  a Putnam  was  in  position  to 
publish,  Irving’s  writings  should  be  in  his  hands,  thus  re- 
paying ten  years  later,  the  confidence  shown  by  Mr.  Put- 
nam in  1848. 

In  1852,  the  author  wrote  his  publisher  as  follows  : 

“ Sunnyside,  Dec.  27,  ’52. 

nr  * ^ * * * * 

“ For  my  own  especial  part  let  me  say  how  sensibly  I appreciate 
the  kind  tone  and  expressions  of  your  letter,  but  as  you  talk  of 
obligations  to  me,  I am  conscious  of  none  that  have  not  been  fully 
counter-balanced  on  your  part,  and  I take  pleasure  in  expressing 
the  great  satisfaction  I have  derived  throughout  all  our  inter- 
course, from  your  amiable,  obliging  and  honorable  conduct.  In- 
deed, I never  had  dealings  with  any  man,  whether  in  the  way  of 
business  or  friendship,  more  perfectly  free  from  any  alloy.  That 
these  dealings  have  been  profitable  is  merely  owing  to  your  own 
sagacity  and  enterprise.  You  had  confidence  in  the  continued 
vitality  of  my  writings  when  my  former  publishers  had  almost 
persuaded  me  they  were  defunct.  You  called  them  again  into 
active  existence  and  gave  them  a circulation  that  I believe  has 
surprised  yourself.  In  rejoicing  at  their  success,  my  satisfaction 
is  doubly  enhanced  by  the  idea  that  you  share  in  the  benefits  de- 
rived from  it. 

“Wishing  you  that  continued  prosperity  in  business  which  your 
upright,  enterprising,  truthful  and  liberal  mode  of  conducting  its 
merits  is  calculated  to  ensure,  I again  invoke  on  you  and  yours  a 
happy  New  Year.” 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


809 


A letter  like  this  from  Mr.  Irving,  is  one  that  Mr.  Put- 
nam’s sons  may  well  be  proud  to  inherit. 

On  going  up  to  Sunnyside  one  afternoon  and  finding 
Mr.  Irving  writing  at  his  little  pine  table,  covered  writh 
papers  in  apparent  confusion,  there  being  evidently  much 
need  of  space,  Mr.  Putnam  said,  “ Mr.  living,  you  ought 
to  have  a proper  desk  for  arranging  and  sifting  your  mate- 
rials. I am  going  to  ask  }rou  to  let  me  send  you  one.” 
“ Well,  Putnam,”  said  he,  “ I am  afraid  it  will  trouble  me 
to  get  accustomed  to  anything  but  my  old-fashioned  table.” 
However,  Mr.  Putnam  sent  up  the  desk  with  the  stipula- 
tion that  the  old  table  should  be  given  to  him.  At  Mr. 
Mr.  Putnam’s  next  visit,  the  author  was  found  fumbling 
over  his  manuscripts  puzzled  to  know  where  he  had  dis- 
posed of  his  numerous  papers,  and  grumbling  dreadfully  at 
his  publisher’s  liberality.  This  historic  table  on  which  the 
works  of  the  great  author  were  written,  was  given  to  one 
of  Mr.  Putnam’s  sons. 

When  the  artist’s  edition  of  the  Sketch-book,  which 
was  so  admirably  illustrated  by  Daniel  Huntington,  F.  0. 
C.  Darley  and  other  well  known  artists,  was  published,  it 
was  considered  the  most  beautiful  book  that  had  yet  been 
issued  by  an  American  publisher.  There  were  several 
applications  from  the  London  trade  who  desired  an  edition 
with  their  imprint.  Among  them  was  the  well  known  firm 
of  Bell  & Daldy,  who  ordered  one  thousand  copies  on  which 
their  name  appeared  according  to  arrangement,  as  publish- 
ers. Soon  after  this  order  was  given,  Mr.  Putnam  met 
another  London  publisher,  who,  in  a boastful  tone,  said  to 
him,  “You  Americans  do  fair  work,  but  it  takes  an  Eng- 
lish house  to  issue  a book  like  this,”  as  he  took  down  a copy 
of  the  artist’s  edition  of  Irving’s  Sketch-book.  “ Such  beau- 
tiful printing  and  wood  drawing  I have  never  seen.”  Mr. 
Putnam  was  of  course  delighted,  and  after  he  had  explain- 
ed that  it  was  his  own  edition  issued  in  America,  the  Brit- 
ish bookseller  enjoyed  a laugh  at  his  own  expense.  It  is 
estimated  that  one  hundred  and  seventy-  five  thousand 


310 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


dollars  have  been  paid  to  Washington  Irving  and  his  heirs 
by  George  P.  Putnam  and  his  sons,  for  copyright. 

The  most  important  of  Mr.  Putnam’s  literary  efforts 
was  the  completion  of  a large  octavo  volume,  entitled, 
“The  World's  Progress,  an  Index  to  Universal  History 
and  a Cyclopedia  of  facts,  Dates  and  General  Information.” 

This  immense  volume  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  small 
undertaking  in  1832,  before  referred  to,  and  is  a lasting 
monument  to  Mr.  Putnam’s  literary  intelligence. 

Mr.  Putnam  first  met  Washington  Irving  in  Europe, 
on  the  11th  of  May,  1842,  on  which  occasion  there  was  a 
notable  gathering  of  distinguished  authors  to  attend  the 
annual  dinner  of  the  “ Literary  Fund,”  an  organization  for 
dispensing  charities  to  disabled  authors  ; this  was  the  first 
appearance  of  Queen  Victoria’s  young  husband  Prince 
Albert,  in  his  presidential  capacity ; he  made  three 
speeches  which  Mr.  Putnam  says  were  more  than  respect- 
able for  a Prince,  they  w^ere  a positive  success. 

Among  those  present  who  made  speeches  were  Hallam 
and  Lord  Mahon,  the  historians,  and  Campbell  and  Moore, 
the  poets.  Edward  Everett  was  then  the  United  States 
Minister  at  the  Court  of  St.  James,  and  Washington  Irving 
was  then  on  his  way  to  Madrid,  as  Minister  to  Spain.  Mr. 
Putnam  says  the  speeches  made  on  that  occasion  were  long 
to  be  remembered ; when  the  toast  to  the  author  of 
“ Bracebridge  Hall  ” was  given  the  whole  audience  greeted 
that  gentleman  with  rousing  cheers.  Mr.  Irving,  as  was 
well-known  by  his  friends,  was  anything  but  a speaker  ; 
when,  therefore,  he  arose  and  in  his  modest  and  beseech- 
ing manner  simply  said,  “ I beg  to  return  you  my  sincere 
thanks  ” his  brevity  seemed  almost  ungracious  to  those 
who  did  not  know  it  was  physically  impossible  for  him  to 
make  a speech.  Mr.  Putnam  says  an  Englishman,  who 
sat  near  him  said  to  his  neighbor,  “Brief  !”  “ Yes,”  was 
the  reply,  “ but  you  can  tell  the  gentleman  in  the  very  tone 
of  his  voice.” 

Mr.  Putnam  in  speaking  of  Mr.  Irving’s  early  engage- 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


311 


ment,  says,  that  on  one  occasion  a miniature  of  a young 
lady,  intellectual,  refined  and  beautiful,  was  handed  to  him 
by  Mr.  Irving,  with  the  request  that  he  would  have  a slight 
injury  repaired  by  an  artist  and  a new  case  made  for  it,  the 
old  one  being  actually  worn  out  by  much  use  ; the  painting, 
which  was  on  ivory,  was  exquisitely  fine.  When  Mr.  Put- 
nam returned  it  to  him  in  a suitable  velvet  case,  he  took  it 
to  a quiet  corner  and  looked  intently  on  the  face  some 
minutes,  apparently  unobserved,  his  tears  falling  freely  on 
the  glass  as  he  gazed.  This  was  the  miniature  of  the  sister 
of  the  eloquent  Ogden  Hoffman.  Mr.  Putnam  delicately 
suggests  that  it  is  for  a poet  to  characterize  the  nature  of 
an  attachment  so  loyal,  so  fresh,  and  so  fragrant  forty  years 
after  death  had  snatched  away  the  mortal  part  of  the  object 
of  affection.  It  was  generally  known  among  the  friends  of 
J.  Fenimore  Cooper  and  Mr.  Irving  that  there  was  for  a 
time  some  estrangement  between  them,  but  from  what 
cause  it  was  not  known. 

Mr.  Putnam  says  that  one  day  after  he  had  com- 
menced the  publication  of  the  library  edition  of  Cooper's 
works,  Mr.  Irving  was  sitting  at  his  desk  with  his  back  to 
the  door,  when  Mr.  Cooper  suddenly  came  in,  in  his  usual 
bustling  manner,  standing  at  the  office  entrance  talking. 
Mr.  Irving  did  not  turn  and  Mr.  Cooper  did  not  see  him. 
Mr.  Putnam,  acting  on  the  impulse  of  the  moment,  simply 
said,  “ Mr.  Cooper,  here  is  Mr.  Irving  the  latter  turned, 
Cooper  held  out  his  hand,  cordially  dashed  at  once  into  an 
animated  conversation,  and  to  Mr.  Putnam's  surprise  and 
delight,  took  a chair  and  chatted  for  an  hour  on  the  topics 
of  the  day  and  some  former  days.  The  parted  with  cordial 
good  wishes,  and  Mr.  Irving  afterwards  frequently  alluded 
to  the  incident  as  being  a great  gratification  to  him. 

Mr.  Putnam  relates  on  another  occasion,  that  as  Mr. 
Irving  and  himself,  while  walking  up  Broadway,  were  pass- 
ing a print  window,  Mr.  Irving's  eyes  rested  on  the  beauti- 
ful engraving  4 ‘ Christus  Consolator."  He  stopped  and 
looked  at  it  intently  for  some  minutes,  evidently  much 


SIX 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


affected  by  the  genuine  inspiration  of  the  artist,  in  this  re- 
markable representation  of  the  Saviour  as  the  Consoler  of 
sorrow-stricken  humanity.  His  tears  fell  freely.  “ Pray, 
get  me  that  print,”  said  he  ; “ I must  have  it  framed  for  my 
sitting-room.”  When  he  examined  it  more  closely  and 
found  the  artist’s  name,  “ It’s  by  my  old  friend  Ary 
Scheffer,”  said  he,  remarking  further,  that  he  had  known 
Scheffer  intimately,  and  knew  him  to  be  a true  artist,  but 
had  not  expected  from  him  anything  so  excellent  as  this. 
Mr.  Putnam  afterwards  sent  him  the  companion,  “ Christus 
Kemunerator,”  and  the  pair  remained  his  daily  companions 
till  the  day  of  his  death. 

Another  incident  in  Mr.  Putnam’s  recollections  of  Mr. 
Irving,  which  I find  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  of  1860,  is 
doubly  interesting  to  me.  Mr.  Thackeray  had  been  invited 
to  deliver  his  lecture  on  “ Charity  and  Humor  ” at 
Yonkers,  on  the  Hudson,  of  which  place  I was  at  that  time 
a resident.  Mr.  Thackeray  was  the  guest  of  Mr.  Frederick 
S.  Cozzens,  whose  humorous  “ Sparrowgrass  Papers  ” my 
firm  had  recently  published.  Mr.  Irving,  who  had  already 
met  Mr.  Thackeray,  was  present  at  the  lecture.  I can  well 
remember  that  enjoyable  occasion  and  the  circumstances 
attending  it.  These  well-known  characters  are  all  dead, 
first  Mr.  Irving,  then  Mr.  Thackeray,  next  Mr.  Cozzens, 
and  last  Mr.  Putnam.  Each  died  suddenly,  without  a 
moment’s  warning. 

One  of  the  most  important  enterprises  inaugurated  by 
Mr.  Putnam  was  the  publication  of  Putnam’s  Monthly 
Magazine . The  idea  was  conceived  by  him  in  the  year 
1852  of  establishing  a monthly  magazine  both  entertaining 
and  practical ; one  suited  to  the  family  as  well  as  to  schol- 
ars. The  contents  were  to  consist  entirely  of  original  mat- 
ter, contributed  by  the  best  writers  in  the  country,  and  Mr. 
Parke  Godwin  and  Mr.  Charles  F.  Briggs  to  be  the  editors. 
The  magazine  was  well  received,  and  proved  both  a literary 
and  commercial  success.  I have  been  looking  over  more 
than  seventy  letters  from  distinguished  American  poets  and 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


313 


prose  writers,  promising  to  contribute  to  the  new  magazine 
in  answer  to  Mr.  Putnam's  prospective  circular.  Among 
others,  those  of  Edward  Everett,  James  K.  Paulding,  Wil- 
liam Cullen  Bryant,  Eitz  Greene  Halleck,  William  Gil- 
more Simms,  Edwin  P.  Whipple,  Richard  H.  Dana,  Theo- 
dore S.  Fay,  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  and  Henry  W.  Long- 
fellow. The  following  from  the  poet  Longfellow  is  a fair 
specimen  of  those  received  by  the  publisher. 

“Cambridge,  October  22,  1852. 

“ Dear  Sir  : 

“ I shall  be  very  happy  to  contribute  occasionally  to  the  pages 
of  your  magazine,  but  will  do  so  anonymously.  At  the  same  time 
I have  no  objection  to  have  my  name  mentioned  among  the  list  of 
contributors  if  you  think  it  worth  while.  If  you  like,  I will  send 
you  a poem  for  your  first  number.  How  soon  shall  you  want  it  ? 

“ Yours,  very  truly, 

Henry  W.  Longfellow.” 

The  letter  from  T.  Buchanan  Read,  the  poet-painter, 
will  be  interesting,  especially  the  portion  relating  to  the 
Brownings — alluding,  as  it  does,  to  Mrs.  Browning’s 
forthcoming  poetic  novel  tc  Aurora  Leigh.” 

“Florence,  Italy,  September  20th,  1854. 

“ Dear  Mr.  Putnam  : 

“ The  Brownings,  the  poets,  having  made  inquiries  of  me  in  re- 
gard to  American  publishers,  I took  pride  and  pleasure  in  speaking 
of  your  house,  as  the  most  desirable  in  my  estimation,  especially 
for  works  such  as  theirs.  They  told  me  that  they  would  both 
have  new  volumes  ready  for  the  press  by  the  next  Spring,  and 
that  they  would  like  to  make  some  arrangements  with  au  Ameri- 
can publisher  to  bring  them  out  simultaneously  with  their  appear- 
ance in  London,  and  desired  me  if  I knew  you,  to  inquire  what 
terms  you  would  be  willing  to  allow  them,  if  you  thought  worth 
while  to  enter  into  any  arrangement.  I promised  them  to  do  this, 
and  if  you  think  it  worth  while  to  reply,  I will  communicate  to  them 
anything  you  may  desire  ; or  if  you  prefer,  you  might  address 
them  directly.  Mrs.  Browning’s  poem  is  a romance  in  verse, 


314 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


•which  with  her  reputation  in  America  would  sell  well.  Mr. 
Browning’s  is  a volume  of  lyrics,  all  new.  In  addressing  you  1 
am  merely  fulfilling  a request  on  their  part  and  a promise  on 
mine.  I gather  from  what  they  said  that  they  would  be  glad 

also  to  contribute  to  your  magazine I sincerely 

hope  your  magazine  is  still  successful  as  it  deserves  to  be.  If  I can 
be  of  any  assistance,  you  have  only  to  command  me.  I am  happy 
to  state,  that  I find  at  last  success  attending  my  studio.  I am 
full  of  orders  for  pictures,  so  that  I feel  much  more  independent 
of  the  pen  than  heretofore  ! I never  did  write  for  money,  but  I 
have  before  now7,  been  compelled  to  publish  for  it.  I am  now,  I 
think,  beyond  the  necessity  of  that.  When  I sent  you  that  last 
poem,  you  may  remember  I set  no  price,  intending  that  you  might 
pay  what  you  felt  inclined  to.  I will,  as  soon  as  I can,  get  some- 
thing not  too  long  for  your  pages,  and  send  you  again  on  the  same 
terms.  If  you  were  as  rich  as  the  Harpers,  I might  stand  on  the 
price,  but  under  present  circumstances,  I am  willing  to  write  for 
you,  as  it  is  necessary,  on  your  own  terms,  for  something  or  noth- 
ing, as  you  may  afford,  until  you  find  yourself  fairly  afloat  again. 

“ Very  truly, 

T.  Buchanan  Read.” 

George  W.  Curtis*  celebrated  “ Potiphar  Papers**  and 
Frederick  S.  Cozzens*  equally  celebrated  “ Sparrowgrass 
Papers  **  were  originally  contributions  to  Putnam’s  Month- 
ly Magazine. 

Mr.  Putnam  was  the  first  American  publisher  of  whom 
we  have  any  account  who  took  action  on  the  question  of 
International  Copyright.  In  1840,  soon  after  his  arrival 
in  London,  he  prepared  what  seems  to  be  the  first  printed 
argument  in  behalf  of  that  measure,  which  appeared  in 
this  country.  , It  was  issued  in  pamphlet  form  under  the 
title  “ An  Argument  in  behalf  of  International  Copyright.** 
In  1843,  Mr.  Putnam  obtained  the  signatures  of  nearly  a 
hundred  publishers,  including  those  interested  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  books,  to  a petition  he  had  prepared  and  which 
was  duly  presented  to  Congress.  It  took  the  broad  ground 
that  the  absence  of  Internation  Copyright  was  4 ‘ alike** 
injurious  to  the  interest  of  publishing  and  to  the  best 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


315 


interest  of  tlie  people  at  large.  Shortly  afterwards,  Henry 
C.  Carey  published  his  “ Letters  on  International  Copy- 
right," in  which  he  took  the  position  that  the  facts  and 
ideas  in  a book  are  the  common  property  of  society,  and 
that  property  in  copyright  is  indefensible.  These  antag- 
onistic positions  are  still  defended  with  much  persistency, 
the  former  by  George  Haven  Putnam,  and  the  latter  by 
Henry  Carey  Baird.  In  a recent  conversation  with  each  of 
these  intelligent  gentlemen  I found  them  firm  in  their 
belief  that  each  had  the  right  of  the  argument. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Putnam  occurred  at  Christmas  time  in 
1872,  when  the  booksellers  annually  reap  their  harvest  in 
the  sales  of  the  holiday  books.  Mr.  Putnam  had  provided 
unusual  attractions  in  the  way  of  attractive  books,  when  he 
was  suddenly  stricken  down  in  death,  while  actively 
engaged  in  his  own  store.  Authors  and  readers  felt  that 
a prop  and  guide  was  taken  from  them  ; the  doors  of  the 
crowded  store  were  closed  ; the  mourning  family  in  their 
grief  cared  not  that  the  holiday  sales  were  the  event  of 
the  year,  but  the  ever-generous  guild  of  booksellers  grasped 
the  sad  moment  to  illustrate  their  affection  for  the  dead. 
Henry  Holt,  Andrew  Armstrong  and  Alfred  Houghton  pub- 
lished a card  stating  that  to  the  affliction  of  the  family 
should  not  be  added  the  serious  financial  embarrassment  of 
having  in  that  busy  season  the  store  of  the  late  publisher 
closed,  and  they  took  upon  themselves  the  work  of  re-open- 
ing the  store  and  carrying  on  the  business  for  the  family. 

As  an  indication  of  the  respect  in  which  Mr.  Putnam 
was  held  the  following  resolutions  were  passed  by  the 
Publishers'’  Board  of  Trade: 

“Resolved : That  this  Board  regards  with  deep  sorrow,  the 
death  of  G„  P.  Putnam,  a publisher  whose  life  added  dignity  to 
our  calling  and  whose  memory  is  among  the  best  traditions. 

“Resolved:  That  we,  as  his  business  associates,  wish  to  give 
our  testimony  to  that  already  so  copiously  given  by  the  press,  that 
Mr.  Putnam’s  career  was  one  of  great  advantage  to  American 
letters,  and  that  his  example  is  worthy  the  emulation  of  those 


316 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


whose  function  it  is  to  decide  what  literature  shall  go  before  the 
public. 

“ Resolved : That  while  his  sudden  death  reminds  us  of  the 
uncertainty  of  our  tenure  of  active  effort  it  equally  reminds  us 
that  it  is  impossible  entirely  to  obliterate  the  influence  of  a good 
and  useful  life. 

Henry  Iyison,  Pres. 

Henry  Holt,  Secretary .” 

The  funeral  was  largely  attended  by  representative  men, 
especially  those  of  the  literary  world.  An  eloquent  sermon 
was  delivered  on  the  occasion  by  his  pastor,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  F. 
Elder,  who  characterized  Mr.  Putnam’s  life  as  “pure, 
patient,  gentle,  self-sacrificing.” 

I am  permitted  to  make  public  the  following  letters  to 
the  bereaved  widow  and  son,  from  the  late  Bayard  Taylor, 
who  knew  the  deceased  more  intimately  perhaps,  than  any 
other  man  then  living,  outside  of  the  family. 

“ Lausanne,  Switzerland, 
Jan.  17,  1873. 

“My  Dear  Mrs.  Putnam: 

“With  the  sorrow  for  Mr.  Greeley’s*  loss  still  upon  me, 
I can  hardly  tell  you  how  much  I have  been  shocked  and 
grieved  by  this  additional  blow It  seemed  in- 

credible that  a man  like  Mr.  Putnam,  with  so  much  freshness  and 
energy  for  his  years,  such  an  active  habit  of  life,  such  temperance 
and  regularity,  could  be  stricken  down  so  suddenly;  to  you  and 
your  children  the  blow  must  have  been  awful  in  its  swiftness. 

I remember  when  Washington  Irving  was  called 

away  by  as  sudden  a summons,  how  Mr.  Putnam  spoke  of  it  as  a 
fortunate  death,  saying  that  if  men  were  allowed  to  choose,  the 
most  would  prefer  to  die  as  Irving  did.  He  now  has  been  equally 
fortunate,  and  we  who  have  known  him  so  long  and  intimately, 
know  that  he  was  always  ready  for  the  call.  His  nature  had  that 
transparent  goodness  and  purity  which  cannot  be  hidden:  it  was 
seen  of  all,  and  the  only  thing  which  seemed  disparagement,  that 
I ever  heard  said  of  him  was : ‘ He’s  too  good  a man  to  be 

* Horace  Greeley  died  the  month  previous. 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


317 


successful  in  business!’  But  I consider  such  a life  successful  and 
noble  in  the  highest  sense.  Mr.  Putnam’s  personal  and  moral 
influence  extended  further  and  was  more  enduring  than  he  or  even 
his  family  could  know;  and  it  does  not  cease  with  his  death. 
There  is,  there  must  be,  some  consolation  in  contemplating  the 
stainless  record  of  his  life  even  to  those  who  have  lost  the  most 
in  losing  him.” 

“My  Dear  Hayen: 

“ I did  not  get  the  sad  news  until  only  three  days  ago.  . . . 

This  swift  death  coming  so  close  upon  Kensett’s  (who  was  also  a 
dear  old  friend)  and  Greeley’s  shocks  me  inexpressibly.  At  my 
age  one  makes  friends  slowly  and  clings  all  the  more  strongly  to 
those  with  whom  so  many  past  experiences  have  been  shared. 
Twenty-six  years  of  friendship  as  well  as  business  relations,  taught 
me  how  perfectly  I could  confide  in  your  father.” 

The  loss  of  Mr.  Putnam  was  deeply  felt  by  liis  many 
attached  friends,  none  more  so  than  by  William  Cullen 
Bryant,  who  wrote  the  following  letter: 

“ Here,  too,  the  closing  days  of  the  year  (1872)  have  been  sad- 
dened by  the  deaths  of  those  whom  we  much  prized,  suddenly  re- 
moved in  the  midst  of  their  usefulness.  Kensett,  the  amiable  and 
generous  artist;  Putnam,  the  liberal  minded  and  kindly  bookseller, 
and  the  promoter  of  every  good  work;  and  the  much  esteemed 
treasurer  of  the  Century  Association,  Priestley,  a man  of  great 
worth  and  intelligence.  It  is  not  often  we  lose,  so  near  to  each 
other  so  many  deeply  and  widely  mourned.  What  a fleeting  thing 
human  life  is! — like  the  shadows  of  a cloud  passing  swiftly  over 
the  fields  leaving  behind  the  flowers  which  it  visits  but  for  an 
instant,  and  the  prattling  brooks  and  the  pools  that  give  back  the 
image  of  the  sky,  and  the  song  sparrow  warbling  on  its  perch,  and 
the  meadow-lark  brooding  on  its  nest  in  the  grass — leaving  all,  all 
— and  hurrying  to  be  lost  on  the  dim  distant  hills  where  the  sight 
can  no  longer  follow  it.  I miss  Putnam  greatly.  He  published 
two  of  my  books  and  I employed  him  to  get  together  my  Cum- 
miugton  Library — about  four  thousand  volumes.  What  he  did  for 
me  beyond  my  special  directions  was  judiciously  and  disinterest- 
edly done.” 


818 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


It  can  be  truly  said  that  Mr.  Putnam’s  life  was  always 
spent  more  for  the  benefit  of  others  than  for  his  own 
aggrandizement,  more  for  the  dissemination  of  good  ideas 
than  for  the  accumulation  of  wealth.  Generous  and  untir- 
ing in  his  devotion  to  the  objects  which  aroused  his  en- 
thusiasm, the  very  effort  to  subordinate  his  personality  to 
the  general  good  of  booksellers  and  book-readers  will  ever 
make  his  name  brightly  conspicuous  in  their  annals. 

In  Rev.  Dr.  Ward’s  Review  of  Thomas  Hughes’  “ Memoir 
of  Macmillan,”  headed  “ The  Publisher’s  Vocation,”  the 
following  tribute  to  Mr.  Putnam  is  given: 

“ One  recalls  the  name  of  several  Americans,  who  have  stood 
in  such  relations  to  authors  and  readers  that  their  imprint  carried 
immense  influence,  making  them  not  only  benefactors  to  authors, 
but  the  purveyors  of  the  best  books  to  those  for  whom  they  were 
written.  Eminent  among  these  was  George  P.  Putnam,  who  brought 
a sensitive  conscience  and  excellent  literary  taste  to  the  business  of 
a bookseller  and  publisher  and  is  always  to  be  named  as  one  of  the 
best  friends  American  authors  ever  had.  He  published  books  on 
their  merits  and  drew  around  him  the  men  who  had  something  to 
say  to  the  public;  and  the  magazine  which  he  started  in  1853  is 
still  remembered,  although  long  ago  discontinued,  for  the  noble 
character  and  excellent  quality  of  the  contents.  He  filled  out  the 
idea  of  what  the  public  needed  and  had  the  largeness  of  concep- 
tion requisite  to  the  undertaking,  and  the  proper  business  capacity 
to  make  it  a success.  No  man  knew  better  how  to  help  authors 
forward,  or  how  to  furnish  the  public  with  readable  books  of  the 
best  character.” 

The  present  firm  consists  of  George  Haven,  John  Bishop 
and  Irving  Putnam,  all  of  whom  inherit  the  literary  qual- 
ities of  their  father  under  the  firm  style  “G.  P.  Put- 
nam’s Sons,”  and  conduct  with  great  success  the  busi- 
ness founded  by  their  father  a half  a century  ago.  Since 
the  death  of  the  latter  they  have  added  to  their  cata- 
logue of  works  in  general  literature,  lists  of  medical  and 
educational  publications,  and  have  also  extended  their 
business  so  as  to  include  bookselling  and  importing  as  well 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


319 


as  publishing.  In  connection  with  their  importing  busi- 
ness they  now  have  a branch  house  in  London,  not  far  from 
the  original  headquarters  of  G.  P.  Putnam,  from  which, 
in  1848  “ American  Facts  ” was  published. 

The  talent  in  the  Putnam  family  is  not  all  confined 
to  the  male  branches.  Dr.  Mary  Putnam  Jacobi  was  the 
first  woman  who  ever  secured  admission  into  the  Paris 
Ecole  de  Medecine  (in  1864),  from  which  she  was  graduated 
with  honors  in  1870.  She  was  doing  work  as  a medical 
student  in  Paris  during  both  the  Prussian  and  Commun- 
ists5 sieges,  and  in  the  interim,  while  the  lecture  courses 
were  closed,  she  busied  herself  with  work  in  the  hospitals. 

She  was  the  first  woman  who  was  ever  elected  a mem- 
ber of  the  Pathological  Society,  as  well  as  of  the  New  York 
Academy  of  Medicine.  All  of  which  seems  strange  enough 
to  the  writer,  who  knew  her  when  a young  school  girl,  more 
than  thirty  years  ago,  while  a near  neighbor  of  her  father’s 
at  Yonkers,  on  the  Hudson. 

The  following  incident  will  serve  as  an  example  of  the 
kind  of  responsibility  which  sometimes  attaches  to  the 
business  of  supplying  libraries.  Not  long  since,  a pastor  in 
a country  town  wrote  G.  P.  Putnam’s  Sons  to  say  that 
two  hundred  dollars  had  been  raised  for  the  town  library, 
and  that,  as  chairman  of  the  committee,  the  duty  of  select- 
ing books  devolved  upon  him.  He  asked  the  firm  to  use 
their  own  judgment  as  to  the  list,  stipulating  only  that  it 

should  include  the  writings  of  Mrs. , one  of  the 

most  “ sensational  ” novelists  of  the  day.  As  her  pen  was 
prolific  as  well  as  sensational,  a set  of  her  books  would  have 
absorbed  a very  large  proportion  of  the  appropriation,  and 
it  was  thought  best  therefore  to  query  the  necessity  for 
sending  this  particular  set,  and  to  suggest  in  its  place  a 
selection  of  really  standard  works  of  fiction.  A note  in 
reply  was  received,  somewhat  as  follows  : — 

“Dear  Sirs: 

“lam  exceeedinglv  indebted  for  your  kind  advice  in  this 
matter.  Please  send  in  place  of  Mrs. ’s  books  the  volumes 


320 


GEORGE  PALMER  PUTNAM. 


suggested  by  yourselves.  Being  a minister,  I have  never  read  any 
fiction  in  my  life  and  know  nothing  about  it,  and  when  some  of 
my  young  men  mentioned  the  novels  referred  to  as  indispensable, 
I supposed  they  were  better  than  any  others.” 

For  the  purpose  of  presenting  in  convenient  form  the 
class  of  information  required  by  such  inquirers,  a volume 
entitled  “ The  Best  Reading,”  which  is  of  great  assistance 
to  all  those  needing  advice  in  selecting  libraries,  was  planned 
by  G.  H.  Putnam,  and  prepared  by  himself,  F.  B.  Per- 
kins, and  L.  E.  Jones.  The  firm  has  also  recently  pub- 
lished a book  by  two  of  the  brothers,  entitled  “ Authors 
and  Publishers,”  a manual  of  suggestions  to  beginners  in 
literature,  which  is  considered  of  great  value  to  all  those 
who  have  written,  or  expect  to  become  authors  of  books. 


XVII. 


GEORGE  BANCROFT. 

Bancroft's  History  began  fifty  years  ago — Author  states  his 
plans  at  the  outset — His  steady  application  and  perist- 
ence — Important  literary  assistance  in  Europe — Meets 
Thiers , Guizot  and  other  historians — Lord  Byron 
gives  him  Hon  Juan — Makes  an  Effective  revenue 
Collector — Gives  Hawthorne  his  first  clerkship — Pres- 
cott's appeal  and  Daniel  Webster's  rebuff — Bancroft 
and  Emerson , like  brothers — Meets  Washington  Irving 
in  France — Sees  the  Sketch-book  in  MS. — Mr.  Ban- 
croft's great  library — Its  possible  destination — Founds 
the  United  States  Naval  Academy — Completes  his 
History  of  the  United  States. 

TUST  fifty  years  ago,  in  the  month  of  June,  1834,  George 
**  Bancroft  published  the  first  volume  of  his  History  of 
the  United  States  of  America. 

In  his  introduction  to  this  volume,  the  author  writes  as 
follows  : 

“I  have  formed  the  design  of  writing  a History  of  the  United 
States,  from  the  Discovery  of  the  American  Continent  to  the  pres- 
ent time.  As  the  moment  arrives  for  publishing  a portion  of  the 
work,  I am  impressed,  more  strongly  than  ever,  with  a sense  of 
the  grandeur  and  vastness  of  the  subject  ; and  am  ready  to  charge 
myself  with  presumption,  for  venturing  on  so  bold  an  enterprise. 
I can  find  for  myself  no  excuse,  but  in  the  sincerity  with  which  I 
have  sought  to  collect  truth  from  trustworthy  documents  and 
testimony.  I have  desired  to  give  to  the  work  the  interest  of 

[331] 


322 


GEORGE  BANCROFT. 


authenticity.  I have  applied  as  I have  proceeded,  the  principles 
of  historical  skepticism,  and,  not  allowing  myself  to  grow  weary 
in  comparing  witnesses  or  consulting  codes  of  laws,  I have  endeav- 
ored to  impart  originality  to  my  narrative,  by  deriving  it  from 
writings  and  sources  which  were  the  contemporaries  of  the  events 
that  are  described  ; for  the  work  which  I have  undertaken  will 
necessarily  exteud  to  several  volumes.  I aim  at  being  concise  ; 
but  also  at  giving  a full  picture  of  the  progress  of  American  insti- 
tutions. The  first  volume  is  now  published  separately  ; and  for  a 
double  motive.  The  work  has  already  occasioned  long  prepara- 
tion, and  its  completion  will  require  further  years  of  exertion  ; I 
have  been  unwilling  to  travel  so  long  a journey  alone  ; and  desire, 
as  I proceed,  to  correct  my  own  judgment  by  the  criticisms  of 
candor.  I have  thought  that  the  public  would  recognize  the  sin- 
cerity of  my  inquiries,  and  that,  in  those  States  where  the  mate- 
rials of  history  have  as  yet  been  less  carefully  collected,  and  less 
critically  compared,  I should  make  for  myself  friends  disposed  to 
assist  in  placing  within  my  reach  the  sources  of  information  which 
are  essential  to  success.” 

The  preceding  was  written  half  a century  ago.  It  will 
be  noticed  that  Mr.  Bancroft  speaks  in  his  introduction,  of 
his  intention  to  write  this  history,  “ down  to  the  present 
time.”  In  a recent  conversation  with  the  venerable  his- 
torian, he  informed  me  that  he  intended  originally  to  bring 
it  down  to  about  the  year  1830.  I said  to  him  that  I 
thought  the  title  of  his  book  was  something  of  a misnomer, 
inasmuch  as  he  had  not  written  a history  of  the  United 
States,  but  rather  a history  of  the  colonies  down  to  the 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  He  replied  that 
when  he  began,  he  did  not  expect  to  finish  the  history 
very  soon,  but  did  expect  to  get  along  faster  than  he  did, 
coming  down  to  near  1830,  that  is,  through  the  war  of  1812- 
15,  to  the  time  when  the  old  system  was  broken,  and  the 
old  series  of  Presidents  ended.  He  thinks  it  can  be  called 
the  History  of  the  United  States,  since  he  has  written  the 
History  of  the  Constitution,  as  the  history  of  the  United 
States  begins  with  the  united  resistance  of  the  colonies 
against  Great  Britain.  He  said  further  that  he  had  been 


GEORGE  BANCROFT. 


323 


prevented  from  an  earlier  completion  by  other  duties, 
which  I hereafter  refer  to. 

Nevertheless,  Mr.  Bancroft  has  been  perfectly  steady  in 
his  application  to  the  history,  the  writing  of  which  he  has 
pursued  for  more  than  fifteen  years.  The  delay  is  rather 
attributable  to  the  pains  he  has  taken  in  gathering  material. 
He  assured  me  that  his  collections  for  American  history 
from — say  1760 — even  further  back  than  that — even  to  the 
early  period  of  the  history  of  the  colony  of  Virginia,  down 
to  the  period  he  has  finished,  are  more  complete,  more 
thorough,  and  extensive,  from  all  quarters  and  all  coun- 
tries, than  those  of  any  European  work  of  history  for 
the  same  period.  Mr.  Bancroft  also  has  said  to  me  that  he 
did  not  know  of  anybody  that  had  spent  so  much  time  as 
he  has  in  getting  into  their  possession,  material  for  the 
period  of  history  about  which  he  intended  to  write. 

When  abroad,  Mr.  Bancroft  went  into  the  offices  of  the 
libraries  of  London,  remaining  until  he  had  taken  copies 
or  made  memoranda  of  all  he  needed  from  them,  and  so 
also  in  Paris,  where  he  spent  days  after  days,  and  weeks 
after  weeks,  examining,  selecting  and  having  copied,  what- 
ever proved  valuable.  Guizot  was  the  first  to  give  the 
order  for  these  valuable  transcripts,  which  order  was  con- 
tinued by  his  successors.  Mr.  Bancroft  examined  every- 
thing of  the  slightest  interest,  until  when  he  came  away, 
the  custodian  of  the  Archives  said,  “ You  have  everything. 
You  have  not  left  a single  mite.” 

Mr.  Bancroft  said  he  made  this  minute  examination  in 
order  to  be  through  with  all  the  courts  of  Europe,  for 
Erance  is,  of  all  countries,  the  one  whose  diplomatic  service 
is  best  fulfilled.  Mr.  Bancroft  has,  also,  letters  and  docu- 
ments pertaining  to  American  history,  not  only  from  Eng- 
land and  France,  but  from  Germany,  Prussia  and  Spain. 
When  he  could  not  go  himself  to  make  these  collections, 
he  sent  over  the  late  Mr.  Broadhead,  who  was  so  well  read 
in  American  history,  to  Holland,  and  he  obtained  for  Mr. 
Brancrof  t,  the  archives  of  that  country,  copies  of  documents 


324 


GEORGE  BANCROFT. 


and  letters  relating  to  the  history  of  the  revolutionary  war. 
He  procured  most  of  these  papers  relating  to  America,  from 
France,  before  Thiers  came  into  power,  but  the  latter  after- 
wards helped  him  by  his  friendly  influence. 

Mr.  Bancroft  said  he  knew  Thiers  very  well,  who,  being 
aware  of  the  great  pains  he  was  taking,  one  day  came  and 
opened  for  Mr.  Bancroft's  use  a suite  of  closets  filled  with 
papers  he  had  collected  for  his  History  of  the  Consulate 
and  Empire. 

De  Tocqueville  also  gave  him  assistance  ; indeed  none 
of  the  officials  in  France  refused  him  anything,  copying  for 
him  letters  and  documents,  whether  they  were  for  or  against 
France.  Mr.  Bancroft  did  not  know  whether  France  was 
very  kind  to  us,  or  whether  that  country  had  a little  inter- 
est of  her  own  that  she  was  looking  after.  He  also  received 
some  assistance  in  England  outside  of  the  public  libraries. 
Lord  Landsdowne,  whose  ancestors  made  the  treaty  of 
peace  between  Great  Britain  and  America,  himself  brought 
to  Mr.  Bancroft's  house  in  London,  folio  after  folio,  because 
he  would  not  trust  anyone  else,  out  of  which  the  historian 
copied  everything  of  any  importance  pertaining  to  the 
War  of  Independence. 

Thus  much  of  Mr.  Bancroft's  great  and  monumental 
work  of  which  the  literary  editor  of  Harper’s  Magazine,  in 
a review  of  the  ne^  revised  edition  in  six  volumes, 
speaks : 

“ A comparison  of  this  revised  edition  impresses  us  with  the 
candor,  the  thoroughness,  and  the  conscientiousness  of  Mr.  Ban- 
croft’s revision.  Every  page  reveals  some  touch  of  the  artist’s 
hand,  softening  the  language  where  it  had  run  into  needless  as- 
perity, but  without  detracting  from  its  sinewy  vigor,  pruning  re- 
dundancies, rounding  off  or  smoothing  down  ruggedness  or  infe- 
licities, modifying  statements  so  as  to  cause  them  to  conform  more 
exactly  to  newly-discovered  evidence — in  fine,  practically  produc- 
ing a new  work  while  preserving  the  substantial  integrity  of  the 
old  one.” 


GEORGE  BANCROFT. 


325 


It  was  while  connected  with  the  house  of  D.  Appleton 
& Co.,  that  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  secure  for  them  the 
future  publication  of  “ Bancroft's  History  of  the  United 
States/’  a fitting  imprint  for  so  great  a work. 

Mr.  Bancroft  was  graduated  from  Harvard  at  the  early 
age  of  seventeen.  He  did  not  delay  in  pursuing  his  studies, 
that  of  history  being  his  special  branch,  but  proceeded  at 
once  to  the  German  Universities,  graduating  from  Gottin- 
gen three  years  later,  from  whence  he  received  his  degrees. 
After  his  graduation,  he  carefully  observed  the  workings  of 
the  Prussian  Government,  in  the  various  departments,  the 
young  student  little  thinking  at  that  time,  that  half  a cen- 
tury later  he  would  represent  his  own  country,  as  minister 
to  the  German  Empire. 

During  these  years  of  study  he  made  the  acquaintance 
of  the  most  distinguished  people,  among  others,  Goethe, 
the  Von  Humboldts,  Cousin,  Niebuhr,  Lamartine  and 
Migret,  the  historian,  recently  deceased. 

Mr.  Bancroft  showed  me  while  in  his  library  at  Wash- 
ington, the  first  edition  of  “Don  Juan,”  printed  at  London 
in  1822,  in  which  the  author  had  written,  with  his  own 
hand  : 

“To  Mr.  George  Bancroft, 
from  the  Author, 

Noel  Byron,  May  22,  1822.” 


I asked  Mr.  Bancroft  what  were  his  impressions  of  Lord 
Byron.  He  replied  they  were  decidedly  favorable,  besides  he 
was  a very  handsome  person,  his  manner  was  very  sprightly, 
nothing  could  exceed  the  spirit  of  his  conversation,  he 
talked  of  himself  without  reserve,  and  the  utmost  freedom, 
and  of  his  friends,  as  well  as  his  enemies.  He  was  travel- 
ing at  that  time  near  Leghorn,  Italy,  where  Lord  Byron 
had  taken  a place  for  the  summer. 

After  spending  five  years  in  Europe,  Mr.  Bancroft  re- 
turned to  America  in  1822,  and  for  a short  time  filled  the 


326 


GEORGE  BANCROFT. 


pulpit,  preaching  several  sermons,  although  not  expecting 
to  enter  the  ministry. 

In  1835  he  engaged  actively  in  politics  and  was  appointed 
collector  at  Boston  in  1838  by  President  Van  Buren.  In 
those  days  the  collections  for  import  duties  were  made  by 
bonds  given  to  importers,  instead  of  cash,  and  the  loss  to 
the  Government  under  the  collectors  who  had  preceded 
Mr.  Bancroft,  amounted  to  millions  on  millions.  He  not 
alone  collected  back  bonds,  which  had  been  looked  upon  as 
worthless,  but  those  received  by  him  from  merchants  were 
paid  at  maturity.  There  was  not  a bad  bond  during  his 
time,  although  in  New  York  and  elsewhere  the  losses  from 
unpaid  bonds  reached  many  millions.  Afterwards  the  cash 
system  of  payments  was  adopted  in  all  ports  of  entry  where 
import  duties  are  collected. 

I asked  Mr.  Bancroft  if  he  had  anything  to  do  with  the 
appointment  of  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  in  the  customs  ser- 
vice. He  replied  that  almost  the  first  thing  he  did  when 
he  became  collector,  was  to  ask  Mr.  Hawthorne  to  accept 
a position  in  the  Custom  House.  Mr.  Hawthorne  did  not 
apply  for  a situation,  but  Mr.  Bancroft,  learning  incidentally 
that  he  was  in  need  of  assistance,  immediately  offered  him 
the  very  best  position  then  vacant,  which  he  accepted,  and 
Mr.  Bancroft  afterwards  was  able  to  give  him  a position 
which  was  paid  by  fees.  The  salary  was  at  one  time  limited 
to  twenty-five  hundred  dollars,  but  the  courts  set  aside  that 
limitation,  saying  the  officer  had  a right  to  all  the  fees  that 
were  earned,  which  usually  amounted  to  five  thousand 
dollars  per  annum.  Mr.  Bancroft  informed  me  that  one 
of  Hawthorne’s  biographers  misstated  the  manner  in  which 
the  latter  obtained  the  position.  It  was  Mr.  Bancroft’s 
own  act,  and  on  the  impulse  of  the  moment  he  heard 
of  Hawthorne’s  possible  need  of  aid,  he  took  pen  and 
ink  and  wrote  to  him  immediately,  tendering  the  posi- 
tion. He  had  known  Mr.  Hawthorne  from  the  first 
time  he  began  to  publish  in  S.  G.  Goodrich’s  “ Token.” 
He  was  caught  from  the  beginning  by  the  charm  and 


GEORGE  BANCROFT. 


327 


sprightliness  of  Hawthorne’s  style,  tone  of  mind  and 
thought.  “ Now,”  said  Mr.  Bancroft  to  me  “ the  following 
is  perfectly  true.  What  Mr.  Hawthorne  wanted,  was  to 
retire  to  Salem,  with  the  Post  Office  appointment,  which 
he  did  not  secure,  but  afterwards  getting  a small  office  in 
the  Salem  Custom  House.  Parties  had  changed;  the 
moment  the  Democratic  party,  of  which  Mr.  Hawthorne 
and  myself  were  members,  went  out  of  power,  Pres- 
cott, the  historian,  wrote  a letter  directed  to  Daniel 
Webster,  then  Secretary  of  State,  under  President  Fill- 
more, saying,  ‘ Here  is  Hawthorne,  a man  of  the  highest 
merit  and  letters,  a person  whom  we  must  not  think  of 
in  reference  to  party.  Do  see  that  he  is  retained  in 
the  little  office  he  has.’  But  Webster  sent  back  a furious 
answer,  being  vehemently  angry.  ‘ How  can  you,  a Whig,’ 
he  said,  how  can  you  do  such  a thing,  as  to  recommend 
the  continuance  in  office,  of  a man  of  the  politics  of  Haw- 
thorne V ” 

Mr.  Bancroft’s  relations  with  Prescott  were  most  inti- 
mate. He  considers  him  one  of  the  greatest  historians. 
He  told  me  that  Prescott  tried  to  form  a close  social  intimacy 
with  Hawthorne,  but  found  him  of  a retiring  nature,  very 
difficult  to  become  acquainted  with.  Coming  into  company 
he  was  awkward  as  could  be,  not  at  his  ease,  not  self-pos- 
sessed, but  he  probably  got  over  it  afterwards.  While  in 
office  at  Boston,  Hawthorne’s  manner  while  performing  his 
duties  was  exemplary.  He  went  right  out  on  the  wharf 
and  gave  his  personal  attention  to  the  details  of  his  work. 
Nobody  could  do  it  better.  Nobody  did  do  it  better.  Hav- 
ing accepted  the  office  he  went  to  work  and  performed  it. 
Unluckily  he  thought  he  had  saved  money  enough,  and 
decided  to  resign  the  office.  Mr.  Bancroft  begged  him  not 
to  do  so,  entreated  him  to  remain,  but  all  to  no  purpose, 
his  resignation  being  handed  in,  not  long  before  Mr.  Ban- 
croft retired. 

Mr.  Bancroft  said  that  Hawthorne  kept  his  own  coun- 
sel, never  talking  about  his  writings.  He  once  brought  to 


328 


GEORGE  BANCROFT. 


him  a copy  of  his  first  book,  “ Twice  Told  Tales,”  a 
presentation  copy  with  his  autograph. 

I asked  Mr.  Bancroft  if  he  knew  much  about  Emerson. 
His  reply  was,  they  were  like  brothers,  and  as  Mrs.  Emer- 
son was  an  old  friend  of  his  wife’s,  that  made  an  additional 
bond  in  their  attachment  for  each  other.  He  knew  him 
first  when  he  was  residing  in  Northampton,  where  Emer- 
son came  to  preach  one  Sunday.  Mr.  Bancroft  was  de- 
lighted with  the  sermon,  and  afterwards  passed  much  of 
his  time  with  its  author,  becoming  intimately  acquainted, 
and  remaining  so  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  Mr.  Emer- 
son frequently  visited  Mr.  Bancroft  at  Newport,  and  his 
visits  were  returned.  Mr.  Bancroft  always  insisted  that 
Emerson  was  the  first  of  our  men  of  letters.  There  is 
nothing,  he  says,  in  English  literature  called  Essays,  so 
excellent  as  Emerson’s,  they  are  the  next  best  to  Bacon’s. 

Mr.  Bancroft  is  a great  admirer  of  Emerson’s  poetry. 
He  said  the  poem  called  “ The  Problem,”  is  grand  and 
majestic,  from  beginning  to  end.  In  it  the  writer  in  front 
of  the  picture  of  Jeremy  Taylor,  is  musing,  considering 
whether  he  will  continue  a preacher  or  not. 

“ Shall  I seek  religion  in  this  fixed  form,  or  shall  I take 
it  by  divine  and  heavenly  inspiration  ?” 

“That”  said  Mr.  Bancroft,  “is  thoroughly  good 
poetry  ; good  all  the  way  through.” 

“I  also  asked  Mr.  Bancroft  if  he  was  acquainted  with 
Washington  Irving.  He  replied,  that  he  knew  Irving  very 
well  for  long  years.  He  was  quite  a young  man  when 
Irving  burst  upon  the  world.  He  knew  him  intimately. 
They  first  met  in  Paris,  where  they  were  constantly 
together.  Once  they  went  out  into  the  country  with  each 
other,  to  see  the  United  States  minister  who  had  taken  a 
country  seat.  This  was  Albert  Gallatin,  afterwards  famous 
as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  At  that  time  Irving  had 
written  Diedrich  Knickerbocker,  and  was  writing  his 
Sketch-book.  He  had  just  completed  a sketch  ; long  and 
of  supreme  merit  in  thought  and  style,  which  Mr.  Ban- 


GEORGE  BANCROFT. 


329 


croft  pronounced  beautiful  in  the  extreme.  Irving  took 
him  home  to  his  lodgings  and  read  it  to  him  there,  at  the 
same  time  informing  him  that  he  had  written  it  all  down 
from  beginning  to  end  at  one  sitting,  after  coming  home 
from  a party.  This  was  a portion  of  the  Sketch-book. 

Mr.  Bancroft  was  unable  to  define  to  me  the  extent  of 
his  library — that  is  in  authorities — especially  in  history. 
He  has  for  a long  period  of  years  purchased  everything  of 
importance  that  came  to  his  notice.  He  never  missed  an 
opportunity  of  buying  books  on  American  history.  He 
says,  however,  that  no  other  American  library  has  such  a 
collection  of  English,  French  and  other  foreign  manu- 
scripts, and  in  that  respect  it  is  unique. 

It  is  Mr.  Bancroft’s  hope,  that  the  manuscript  collection 
at  least  will  be  kept  together,  and  that  it  will  ultimately 
find  its  way  into  the  Congressional  Library,  or  some  one 
of  the  other  great  public  libraries  of  the  country. 

Mr.  Bancroft  was  the  real  founder  of  the  Naval  Academy. 
He  induced  Mr.  Marcy,  then  Secretary  of  War,  to  make 
over  the  lands  and  military  buildings  at  Annapolis,  to  the 
Navy  Department.  He  studied  the  laws,  to  see  how  the 
Academy  could  be  established,  without  further  legislation, 
as  it  would  not  have  been  possible  at  that  time  to  have  a 
Naval  Academy,  corresponding  with  the  W^est  Point  Mili- 
tary Academy,  established  at  any  Northern  port.  He  had 
accumulated  by  the  strictest  economy  an  enormous  amount 
of  savings  in  the  various  branches  of  the  Naval  Depart- 
ment. The  great  difficulty  was  to  have  Congress  recognize 
what  had  been  done,  and  this  was  accomplished  after 
laborious  effort,  and  the  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis,  re- 
mains a monument  to  the  foresight  of  Mr.  Bancroft  by  its 
subsequent  importance  and  usefulness.  During  the  ab- 
sence of  Mr.  Marcy,  Mr.  Bancroft  Avas  appointed  acting 
Secretary  of  War.  This  happened  at  one  of  the  most 
important  periods  in  our  relations  with  Mexico,  and  at  a 
most  critical  time  he  issued  the  order  to  General  Zachary 
Taylor,  to  make  his  first  important  movement,  the  result 


330 


GEORGE  BANCROFT. 


of  which  was  the  conquest  of  Mexico,  the  annexation  of 
Texas  and  the  election  of  General  Taylor  to  the  Presidency 
of  the  United  States.  While  holding  this  cabinet  office, 
Mr.  Bancroft  was  appointed  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to 
Great  Britain,  which  distinguished  office  he  filled  with 
great  credit  to  himself  and  his  country. 

During  his  residence  in  England,  he  made  many  friends 
among  men  of  letters.  Returning  to  the  United  States  in 
1849,  he  took  up  his  residence  iu  New  York,  with  the 
determination  to  finish  his  history  of  the  United  States, 
the  last  volume  of  which  was  completed  forty  years  after 
the  publication  of  the  first  volume. 

The  following  is  from  the  preface  to  the  sixth  volume: 

“ The  present  volume  completes  the  History  of  the  American 
Revolution,  considered  in  its  causes.  The  three  last  explain  the 
rise  of  the  Union  of  the  United  States  from  the  body  of  the  people, 
the  change  in  the  colonial  policy  of  France,  and  the  consequences 
of  the  persevering  ambition  of  Great  Britain  to  consolidate  its 
power  over  America.  The  penal  Acts  of  1774  dissolved  the  moral 
connection  between  the  two  countries,  and  began  the  civil  war. 

Of  all  persons  in  England,  it  was  most  desirable  to  have  a just 
conception  of  the  character  of  the  king.  Mr.  Everett,  when 
Minister  at  the  Court  of  St.  James,  keeping  up  in  his  busiest  hours 
the  habit  of  doing  kind  offices,  obtained  for  me  from  Lady  Char- 
lotte Lindsay,  copies  of  several  hundred  notes  or  abstracts  of  notes 
from  George  the  Third  to  her  father  Lord  North.  Afterwards,  I 
received  from  Lady  Charlotte  herself,  communications  of  great 
interest,  and  her  sanction  to  make  such  use  of  the  letters  as  I might 
desire,  even  to  the  printing  of  them  all.  Others  written  by  the  king 
in  his  boyhood  to  his  Governor,  Lord  Harcourt,  the  latter  was  so 
obliging  as  to  allow  me  to  peruse.  ..... 

“The  relations  of  France  to  America  were  of  paramount  im- 
portance. I requested  of  Mr.  Guizot,  then  the  Minister,  authority 
to  study  them  in  the  French  Archives.  ‘ You  shall  see  everything 
that  we  have,’  was  his  instant  answer,  enhancing  his  consent  by 
the  manner  iu  which  it  was  given.  The  promise  was  most  liberally 
interpreted  and  most  fully  redeemed  by  Mr.  Mignet,  whose  good 


GEORGE  BANCROFT. 


331 


advice  and  friendly  regard  lightened  my  toils,  and  left  me  nothing 
to  desire.  Mr.  Dumont,  the  Assistant  Keeper  of  the  Archives, 
under  whose  immediate  superintendence  my  investigations  were 
conducted,  aided  them  by  his  constant  good  will.  The  confidence 
reposed  in  me  by  Mr.  Guizot  was  continued  by  Mr.  Lamartine,  Mr. 
Drouyn  de  Lhuys,  and  by  Mr.  de  Tocqueville. 

“As  the  Court  of  France  was  the  centre  of  European  diplo- 
macy, the  harvest  from  its  Archives  was  exceedingly  great. 

* * * * * * 

“If  I have  failed  in  giving  a lucid  narrative  of  the  events 
which  led  to  the  necessity  of  Independence,  it  is  not  for  want  of 
diligence  in  studying  the  materials,  which  I have  brought  together, 
or  of  laborious  care  in  arranging  them.  The  strictest  attention 
has  been  paid  to  chronological  sequence,  which  can  best  exhibit 
the  simultaneous  action  of  general  causes.  The  abundance  of  my 
collections  has  enabled  me,  in  some  measure,  to  reproduce  the 
very  language  of  every  one  of  the  principal  actors  in  the  scenes, 
which  I describe  and  represent  their  conduct  from  their  own  point 
of  view.  1 hope  at  least  it  will  appear,  that  I have  written  with 
candor,  neither  exaggerating  vices  of  character  nor  reviving 
national  animosities,  but  rendering  a just  tribute  to  virtue  where- 
ever  found.” 

During  Mr.  Bancrofts  residence  in  New  York,  he  was 
elected  President  of  the  Century  Club  succeeding  its  first 
presiding  officer,  the  late  Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  which 
office  he  resigned  on  his  appointment  as  Minister  to  Prus- 
sia. He  was  elected  an  honorary  member  of  the  club,  and 
is  the  only  member  that  has  ever  been  accorded  that  dis- 
tinguished honor.  Mr.  Bancroft  as  we  have  seen,  although 
once  a politician,  was  one  without  reproach — as  a states- 
man we  have  had  but  few  his  equal,  as  an  orator  his 
eulogies  of  President  Jackson  and  President  Lincoln  are 
models  of  the  kind,  and  as  a historian  he  stands  pre-emi- 
nent. That  learned  critic,  the  late  George  Ripley,  thus 
writes  : 

“Mr.  Bancroft’s  ‘History  of  the  United  States’  occupies  a 
very  prominent  place  not  only  in  the  historical  literature  of  his 


332 


GEORGE  BANCROFT. 


own  country,  but  in  that  of  the  world,  since  it  is  everwhere  a 
recognized  authority  concerning  the  period  which  it  cover.  It  is 
not  merely  a narrative,  but  a philosophic  treatise,  dealing  with 
causes  and  principles  as  well  as  events,  and  tracing  with  remarka- 
ble skill  the  progress  of  enlightenment  and  liberal  ideas.  It  has 
been  translated  into  different  languages  and  is  especially  popular 
in  Germany.” 

Mr.  Bancroft  resides  in  Washington  during  the  winter, 
and  at  Newport  during  the  summer.  He  is  an  early  riser, 
and  writes  through  his  amanuensis  only  during  the  morn- 
ing hours,  after  which  he  looks  after  his  flowers,  of  which 
he  has  a great  variety.  In  the  afternoon  he  generally  drives 
or  rides,  and  although  in  his  eighty-fifth  year  frequently 
rides  more  than  thirty  miles  in  one  day,  on  horseback.  His 
health  is  perfect  and  his  many  friends  look  for  its  continu- 
ance for  many  years  to  come. 


XYIII. 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS. 


Name  of  Mr.  Childs  a household  word — Becomes  a booksel- 
ler’s Clerk — Author  first  meets  him — Metes  out  retri- 
butive Justice — Gives  a great  banquet  at  .Continental — 
Early  characteristics  of  Childs — He  never  lost  a friend 
— Despises  meanness  and  hates  a liar — “ I shall  yet  be 
owner  of  the  Public  Ledger  ” — Publishes  Dr.  Kane’s 
famous  book — Allibone’s  great  Dictionary  of  Authors 
— Mr.  Childs’  boundless  Charities — Interesting  letters 
received  at  the  Banquet — Wonderful  Success  of  the 
Ledger — Hawthorne  sends  Childs  the  Scarlet  Letter — 
James  T.  Fields  gives  its  History — Death  of  William 
D.  Ticknor — Nathaniel  Hawthorne  soon  follows — 
Charles  Dickens  invites  Childs  to  Gad’s  Hill — Childs 
erects  a Monument  to  Poe — Childs  and  Drexel  not  un- 
like Cheeryble  Brothers. 


A LTHOUGH  the  name  of  George  W.  Childs  is  a house- 
hold  word  in  the  City  of  Philadelphia,  where  he 
is  known  as  the  owner  and  manager  of  that  Philadelphia 
institution  the  Public  Ledger , what  I have  to  say  will  be 
more  in  reference  to  his  career  as  a bookseller  and  publisher 
of  books. 

It  will  be  seen  further  on  that  although  he  is  no  longer 
connected  with  the  book  trade  he  has  used  and  continues 
to  use  a large  portion  of  his  princely  income  in  gathering 
round  him  rare  books,  rare  manuscripts,  and  an  enduring 
name  as  the  friend  and  benefactor  of  authors,  publishers 
and  booksellers. 


[333] 


334 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS. 


Mr.  Childs  came  from  Baltimore  to  Philadelphia  when 
but  fourteen  years  of  age,  to  seek  employment.  An  entire 
stranger  in  that  city,  he  found  a situation  in  a book-store 
kept  by  Mr.  P.  Thomson,  at  the  corner  of  Sixth  and  Arch 
Streets,  the  compensation  agreed  upon  was  three  dollars  a 
week  for  his  services ; he  was  both  clerk  and  errand  boy, 
working  early  and  late,  devoting  himself  entirely  to  the  ser- 
vice of  his  employer  who  soon  held  him  in  the  greatest  con- 
fidence. After  the  close  of  the  day’s  business  young  Childs 
attended  the  evening  auctions,  which  were  at  that  time 
very  frequent  in  Philadelphia  ; he  showed  excellent  judg- 
ment in  his  purchases  and  soon  became  familiar  with  the 
most  profitable  books  to  buy.  After  about  four  years’  ex- 
perience with  Mr.  Thomson,  whose  business  had  increased 
under  the  energetic  and  intelligent  labor  of  his  youthful 
assistant,  young  Childs  was  further  deputed  to  attend  the 
book-trade  sales  in  Philadelphia,  New  York  and  Boston. 

It  was  while  attending  these  sales  that  I first  met  Mr. 
Childs,  then  about  eighteen  years  old,  but  already  a favor- 
ite with  publishers  and  book-buyers,  who  semi-annually 
gathered  in  those  cities  to  purchase  supplies  at  auction. 

He  soon  learned  by  watching  some  of  the  shrewd  book- 
sellers in  attendance  at  the  sales,  that  the  greatest  bargains 
wrere  made  by  calling  for  the  balance  of  the  number  offered 
at  the  sales.  After  the  books  had  been  “struck  down” 
for  the  quantity  desired,  the  bidder  for  the  balance  always 
had  the  preference  over  any  others.  I remember  one  time 
young  Childs  called  out  for  the  balance  of  a certain  book 
to  which  he  Avas  clearly  entitled,  and  he  claimed  in  no  un- 
certain tones,  his  right.  Mr.  George  W.  Lord,  the  auction- 
eer, told  him  he  might  sit  down,  that  he  was  getting  up  a 
row  and  making  more  noise  than  all  the  booksellers  in  the 
room.  Mr.  Childs  thought  this  was  pretty  hard,  as  he  was 
acting  for  the  best  interest  of  his  employer,  but  after  pro- 
testing he  carried  his  point.  He  never  forgot  this  injus- 
tice, however,  and  although  not  of  a revengeful  nature, 
determined  in  his  own  mind  that  sometime  or  other  retri- 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS. 


335 


butive  justice  should  be  meted  out  to  the  one  who  had  in- 
jured him.  When,  a few  years  later,  Mr.  Lord  got  into 
financial  difficulties,  Mr.  Childs,  then  in  business  for  him- 
self, took  special  pains  to  see  the  principal  booksellers  and 
persuaded  them  to  secure  the  services,  as  conductors  of  the 
Philadelphia  Trade  Sales,  of  the  substantial  and  well  known 
firm  of  Moses  Thomas  & Sons,  who,  as  my  book-selling 
readers  will  remember,  so  long  continued  these  sales  to  the 
satisfaction  of  both  contributor  and  buyer. 

At  the  notable  banquet  given  at  the  Continental  Hotel 
on  the  occasion  of  the  opening  of  the  new  Ledger  Building 
in  1867,  the  Hon.  J.  J.  Stewart,  of  Baltimore,  in  his  remarks 
spoke  as  follows  : 

“ Character  creates  confidence  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  and 
this,  I know,  is  the  main  reliance  of  our  worthy  host.  Franklin 
is  not  more  emblematic  of  his  craft  than  the  exemplar  of  his  life. 
The  code  of  poor  Richard  is  the  code  of  Mr.  Childs.  Nor  did 
Poor  Richard  come  to  this  city  in  humbler  guise  than  our  poor 
Baltimore  boy  who  is  your  host  to-day.  I have  been  introduced 
to  you  as  the  friend  of  his  boyhood — I may  add,  of  his  early  child- 
> hood.  As  such,  it  is  my  privilege  to  say  to  you  that  he  has  been 
precisely  what  you  find  him  to-day.  His  heart  was  always  larger 
than  his  means,  and  always  will  be,  let  the  latter  accumulate  as 
they  may.  There  is  but  one  thing  he  always  despised,  and  that 
is  meanness.  There  is  but  one  character  he  hates,  and  that  is,  a 
liar.  For  all  other  infirmities,  he  has  charity;  for  all  differences 
of  opinion,  eccentricities,  and  angularities,  a cosmopolitan  tolera- 
tion. When  he  left  Baltimore  a little  boy,  the  affectionate  regrets 
of  all  his  companions  followed  him  to  Philadelphia;  and  the 
attachment  they  felt  for  him  was  more  like  romance  than  reality 
in  this  everyday  world.  We  are  so  much  in  the  habit  of  making 
game  of  all  that  is  best  and  tenderest  in  our  nature,  that  it  is  left 
to  the  dissecting  knife  alone  to  lay  open  the  heart  of  man;  yet 
who  is  there  here  that  does  not  know  how  good  it  is  to  have  a 
friend  ? Here  is  the  boy  who  has  never  forgotten  the  friends  of 
his  childhood,  and  who  is  not  forgotten  by  them.  Here  is  the 
man  whom  I have  heard  some  of  the  Republic’s  bravest,  greatest, 
and  best  citizens  proudly  claim  as  a friend  this  night.  I think  I 
can  say  with  truth,  that  George  W.  Child  has  never  lost  a friend. 


336 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS. 


“What  is  the  meaning  of  it?  Is  there  any  secret  about  it? 
I will  tell  you  what  I know.  He  is  true;  and,  as  you  are  all  wit- 
nesses here,  he  is  liberal  and  kind.  I remember  that  he  wrote  to 
me  years  ago,  when  we  were  both  boys,  that  he  meant  to  prove 
that  a man  could  be  liberal  and  successful  at  the  same  time.” 

This  tribute  paid  to  him  by  the  friend  of  his  childhood, 
boyhood  and  manhood,  is  one  that  all  who  know  Mr.  Childs 
will  cordially  indorse.  When  about  eighteen  years  old  he 
started  in  business  on  his  own  account,  having  earned  and 
saved  a sufficient  sum  of  money  to  set  up  a small  news  and 
book-store,  in  which  he  was  successful  ; and  it  is  a singu- 
lar circumstance  that  the  very  spot  where  he  first  began 
business  was  a small  room  in  the  old  Public  Ledger  build- 
ing. And  it  was  about  that  time  that  he  was  heard  to  say 
“ I shall  yet  be  the  owner  of  the  Public  Ledger.” 

When  about  twenty-one  years  old  he  entered  into  the 
book  publishing  business  under  the  firm  style  of  Childs  & 
Peterson,  and  their  publications  soon  became  familiar  to 
the  literary  world. 

One  of  their  most  important  books  was  Dr.  Kane’s 
“ Arctic  Explorations,”  in  search  of  the  lost  Sir  John 
Franklin,  so  familiar  to  the  book-reading  public  of  thirty 
years  ago.  Dr.  Kane  originally  intended  to  write  only  a 
scientific  account  of  his  expedition.  Mr.  Childs  persuaded 
him,  however,  to  write  a popular  narrative,  blending  adven- 
ture with  scientific  exploration.  The  success  of  the  book 
was  remarkable  ; the  sale  was  so  large  that  Mr.  Childs  was 
enabled  to  pay  the  author  within  one  year  after  the  publi- 
cation, the  enormous  copyright  of  seventy  thousand  dollars. 
Dr.  Kane  admitted  to  Mr.  Childs  that  he  was  right  in  sug- 
gesting a book  of  a popular  nature,  instead  of  purely  sci- 
entific research,  and  after  completing  the  MS  of  his  narra- 
tive, wrote  as  follows  : — 

“My  Dear  Childs: 

“Here  you  have  the  book  complete,  and  poor  as  it  is,  it  has 
been  my  coffin.” 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS. 


337 


Doubtless  the  explorer  must  have  had  some  premonition 
of  the  near  approach  of  the  end  of  his  adventurous  career, 
for  he  died  within  one  year  after  receiving  the  copyright 
money. 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Childs  received  news  of  Dr.  Kane’s 
death  in  Cuba  he  made  arrangements  for  the  funeral,  which 
was  one  of  the  greatest  demonstrations  ever  seen,  all  the  way 
from  Cuba  to  the  place  of  his  sepulture. 

Mr.  Childs  once  said  to  me  that  when  Dr.  Kane’s  book 
was  ready  for  publication,  he  took  a sample  copy  and  went 
to  New  York  to  solicit  orders  from  the  leading  booksellers. 
The  largest  house  there  declined  to  negotiate  for  more  than 
a few  copies,  saying  “ Mr.  Childs  you  won’t  sell  more  than 
a thousand  copies  altogether.”  They  ordered  one  hundred 
copies  to  begin  with,  and  soon  after  to  supply  the  demands 
of  their  customers  five  thousand  copies  more. 

The  next  great  hit  that  Mr.  Childs  made  was  Parson 
Brownlow’s  book.  He  understood  very  well  the  art  of 
advertising  and  had  piqued  public  curiosity  to  such  an  ex- 
tent that  50,000  copies  were  ordered  before  the  book  was 
issued. 

Among  other  important  books  published  were  “ Peter- 
son’s Familiar  Science,”  of  which  a quarter  of  a million 
copies  have  been  sold.  Also  Bouvier’s  Law  Dictionary  and 
Sharswood’s  Blackstone.  The  last  work  is  still  owned  by 
Mr.  Childs,  he  farming  out  to  others  the  right  to  publish 
the  samQ. 

The  most  important  book  projected  by  him  was  “Dr. 
Allibone’s  Dictionary  of  English  and  American  Authors,” 
which  massive  undertaking  has  been  completed  in  three 
immense  volumes  costing  over  sixty  thousand  dollars.  Mr. 
Childs  gives  credit  to  Mr.  J.  B.  Lippincott,  for  his  enter-  4 
prise  and  public  spirit  in  completing  the  last  two  volumes 
of  this  great  work,  he  having  retired  from  the  book  pub- 
lishing business  after  the  issue  of  the  first  volume.  It 
probably  never  would  have  been  completed  but  for  the 
capital  and  confidence  of  Mr.  Lippincott.  Mr.  S.  Austin 
15 


338 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS. 


Allibone,  the  author  of  this  book,  is  now  the  honored  libra- 
rian of  the  Lenox  Library  and  his  immense  literary  creation, 
so  desirable  and  valuable  to  all  intelligent  people,  will  be 
forever  a tribute  to  his  erudition,  dilligence  and  industry, 
belonging  as  it  does  to  the  rank  of  Webster’s  and  Worces- 
ter’s Dictionaries  and  the  great  Cyclopedias. 

Mr.  Childs  retired  from  the  book  publishing  business 
in  the  year  1863,  a business  which  he  always  loved,  and  for 
which  he  still  has  a liking,  retaining  especially  an  affection 
for  publishers,  booksellers  and  authors  who  were  esteemed 
friends  before  he  embarked  in  the  new  enterprise  which  has 
carried  him  into  a princely  fortune. 

I am  acquainted  with  several  at  one  time  prominent  and 
well-to-do  publishers  whose  business  misfortunes  reduced 
them  to  dependence,  to  whose  support  Mr.  Childs  contrib- 
utes annually  and  liberally,  believing  his  fortune  to  have 
been  given  him  that  he  may  share  it  with  worthy  recipi- 
ents of  his  benevolence,  as  he  once  wrote  Mr.  Stewart, 
when  a mere  boy,  he  meant  to  prove,  when  he  became  a 
man  that  he  could  be  liberal  and  successful  at  the  same 
time. 

The  late  Colonel  J.  W.  Forney,  who  knew  Mr.  Childs 
long  and  intimately,  thus  writes  of  him  in  his  interesting 
volume  “ Anecdotes  of  Public  Men.” 

“No  charity  appeals  to  Mr.  Childs  in  vain  ; no  object  of 
patriotism  ; no  great  enterprise  ; no  sufferer  from  misfortune, 
whether  the  ex-Confederate  or  the  stricken  foreigner.  He  enjoys 
the  confidence  of  President  Grant,  and  yet  was  among  the  first  to 
send  a splendid  subscription  to  the  monument  to  Greeley.  He, 
more  than  any  other,  pushed  the  subscription  of  over  $100,000 
for  the  family  of  the  dead  hero,  George  G.  Meade,  and  yet.  Alex- 
* ander  H.  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  had  no  firmer  friend.  He  gave 
the  latter  the  first  gold  watch  he  ever  owned,  and  since  his  death 
has  subscribed  five  hundred  dollars  towards  the  purchase  of 
‘Liberty  Hall,’  where  the  eminent  Georgia  statesman  so  long  re- 
sided. His  list  of  unpublished  and  unknown  benevolence  would 
give  the  lie  to  the  poor  story  that  he  craves  notoriety.  When  I 


GEOKGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS. 


339 


carried  letters  from  him  to  Europe  in  1867,  his  name  was  a talis- 
man, and  it  was  pleasant  to  see  how  noblemen,  like  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  honored  the  indorsement  of  an  American,  who, 
thirty  years  ago,  was  a poor  boy.  He  made  his  money  himself, 
not  by  speculation  or  office,  and  got  none  by  inheritance.  He 
coins  fortune  like  a magician,  and  spends  it  like  a man  of  heart. 
He  likes  society,  and  lives  like  a gentleman.  He  is  as  temperate 
as  ever  Horace  Greeley  was,  and  yet  he  never  denies  his  friends  a 
generous  glass  of  wine.  His  habits  are  as  simple  as  Abraham 
Lincoln’s,  and  yet  his  residence  is  a gem,  bright  with  exquisite 
decoration  and  rich  in  every  variety  of  art.  He  gives  a Christmas 
dinner  to  newsboys  and  boot-blacks,  and  dines  traveling  dukes 
and  earls  with  equal  ease  and  familiarity.  He  never  seems  to  be 
at  work,  goes  everywhere,  sees  everybody,  helps  everybody,  and 
yet  his  great  machine  moves  like  a clock  under  his  constant  super- 
vision.” 

At  the  banquet  held  at  the  Continental  Hotel,  to  which 
reference  has  been  already  made,  to  commemorate  the  com- 
pletion of  the  new  Ledger  Building, — probably  the  most 
complete  newspaper  establishment,  take  it  all  in  all,  in  the 
world, — about  five  hundred  guests  were  seated  at  the 
tables,  representing  the  press,  politics,  literature,  bankers 
and  influential  men  generally.  The  well-known  Mayor  Mc- 
Michael  presided  on  the  occasion  ; the  addresses  given  by 
him  and  Mayor  Hoffman,  of  New  York,  and  the  eminent 
journalists,  the  late  Hon.  Joseph  B.  Chandler  and  Hon. 
James  Brooks,  were  eloquent  and  impressive  in  the  extreme. 

Letters  of  regret  were  received  and  read  from  President 
Johnson,  Secretary  Seward,  Secretary  Stanton,  General 
Grant,  Ex-President  Fillimore,  Chief  Justice  Chase, 
Balph  Waldo  Emerson,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  Henry  W. 
Longfellow,  and  many  more  distinguished  gentlemen  re- 
nowned in  statesmanship  and  literature. 

The  following  from  some  of  the  prominent  book-pub- 
lishers who  had  known  Mr.  Childs  long  and  well,  none  of 
whom  are  living,  go  to  show  their  estimate  of  Mr.  Childs 
at  that  time. 


340 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS. 


From  George  S.  Appleton,  of  D.  Appleton  & Co. 

“ New  York,  June  16,  1867. 

“My  Dear  Mr.  Childs: — 

“I  congratulate  you  on  having  completed  the  edifice  which, 
from  all  accounts  is  the  finest  as  well  as  the  largest  newspapei 
office  in  the  United  States.  I do  not  know  that  it  is  possible  for 
you  to  print  any  more  than  you  do  now,  but  I have  no  doubt  that 
this  exhibition  of  extraordinary  enterprise  will  increase  your 
circulation. 

“ When  the  great  ledger  of  life,  where  all  our  deeds  and 
actions  are  recorded  shall  be  opened,  I think  that  the  record  of 
the  Ledger,  under  your  administration  will  stand  higher  for  purity 
of  expression  and  freedom  from  slander  of  personal  character  than 
any  paper  I know  of  . . .” 

From  George  P.  Putnam,  of  G.  P.  Putnam  & Son. 

“New  York,  June  12,  1867. 

“ My  Dear  Childs  : — 

******* 

“As  a publisher  of  books,  if  you  had  achieved  no  other  suc- 
cesses than  those  connected  with  the  names  of  Kane,  Bouvier  and 
Allibone,  your  name  would  remain  embalmed  for  posterity;  and  we 
of  ‘ the  trade  ’ all  know  that  in  those  and  other  enterprises  you 
have  shown  a liberal  sagacity,  taste  and  enterprise,  rare  in  our 
fraternity.  That  you  should  also  accomplish  a notable  advance- 
ment in  the  business  machinery  and  the  profitable  results  of  a 
daily  newspaper  was  a perfectly  logical  sequence.  Such  an  enter- 
prise as  would  positively  frighten  most  of  us  timid  and  slow 
moving  old  fogies,  you  in  your  shrewd  energy  and  wide  awake 
sagacity  enter  upon  as  a pastime.  You  wave  your  magic  wand 
and  lo  ! palaces  rise  and  the  genii  of  steam  and  lightniug  send 
forth  from  their  subterranean  cells  and  lofty  attics  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  daily  messages  over  the  continent,  and  fortune  follows 
deservedly  because  you  regulate  all  these  powers  on  liberal  prin- 
ciples of  justice  and  truth.” 

From  Jas.  T.  Fields,  of  Ticknor  & Fields. 

“Boston,  June  5,  1867. 

“ My  Dear  Childs  : — 

“ I wish  it  were  in  my  power  to  be  with  you  and  your  guests 


GEOEGE  WILLIAM  CIIILDS. 


341 


on  the  happy  occasion  to  which  you  so  kindly  invite  me.  You 
will  have  a grand  time,  and  I would  gladly  join  in  it  for  I know 
the  excellent  ability  of  Philadelphia  to  accomplish  all  that  is  best 
in  the  way  of  hospitality  and  good  cheer. 

******* 

“ Take  then  all  my  best  wishes,  dear  friend,  for  your  continued 
success.  The  Ledger  is  a capital  paper  ; make  it  better  still  if 
possible.  Its  circulation  is  among  the  largest  in  the  world,  beat 
them  all  during  the  coming  year.  The  proprietor  is  an  enter- 
prising young  man, — and  here  I stop,  wishing  and  beg  to  remain 
always.” 

From  Harper  & Brothers. 

“New  York,  June  14th,  1867. 

“ Dear  Mr.  Childs  : 

“ The  ‘ Brothers  ’ who  now  write  have  been  for  well  nigh  half 
a century,  ‘ Brothers  of  the  Craft,1  and  no  ordinary  obstacle  would 
prevent  them  from  being  present  in  the  City  of  ‘ Brotherly  Love  1 
on  an  occasion  where  they  would  be  sure  to  meet  so  many  of  their 
old  friends  and  new  associate. 

******** 

“ We  pray  you  to  accept  our  warmest  congratulations  upon  the 
completion  of  your  magnificent  structure  and  our  most  sincere 
wishes  for  your  continued  prosperity  and  happiness.  You  have 
richly  earned  by  your  persevering  industry  and  enlightened  enter- 
prise, the  decided  success  which  you  have  so  happily  achieved. 
May  it  be  long  continued  and  even  increased,  ten-fold  and  eventu- 
ally prove  a rich  inheritance  to  your  children’s  children.” 

The  wonderful  commercial  success  of  the  Public  Ledger 
since  Mr.  Childs  became  its  owner  is  a matter  of  history  ; 
a parallel  case  might  well  be  made  of  his  intimate  friend, 
Mr.  George  Jones,  of  the  New  York  limes,  who  like  him 
went  from  the  business  of  bookselling  to  become  controller 
of  a great  and  influential  newspaper,  thus  reversing  the 
usual  custom  of  printers  becoming  booksellers. 

Henry  W.  Raymond,  only  son  of  the  late  brilliant  jour- 
nalist of  that  name,  after  embarking  in  the  bookselling 
business  at  Chicago,  and  losing  all  his  patrimony,  by  the 
disastrous  failure  of  his  firm,  wrote  several  letters  to  the 


342 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS. 


old  friends  of  liis  father,  and  the  only  response  received  to 
the  application  for  advice  were  from  the  late  Thurlow  Weed 
and  George  W.  Childs.  Mr.  Weed  gave  him  some  friendly 
advice,  and  Mr.  Childs,  after  ascertaining  that  young  Ray- 
mond was  in  failing  health  by  working  beyond  his  strength 
on  the  editorial  columns  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  wrote  him 
to  come  to  Philadelphia  and  arranged  with  him  to  take 
charge  of  that  long-established  and  profitable  newspaper 
the  Germantown  Telegraph,  which  Mr.  Childs  bought  for 
the  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  giving  it  to  young 
Raymond,  the  amount  to  be  returned  only  when  the  sur- 
plus earnings  over  his  family  expenses  would  warrant  the 
same.  Mr.  Raymond  is  now  pleasantly  and  happily  set- 
tled in  Germantown  with  his  family,  and  is  much  honored 
and  respected  by  those  who  knew  his  distinguished  father. 
It  was  a pleasure  to  me  to  meet  Mr.  Raymond  in  Mr. 
Childs’  office  very  recently,  and  to  see  his  remarkable 
resemblance  to  his  lamented  father. 

The  library  of  George  W.  Childs  is  perhaps  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  in  rare  books  and  manscripts  of  any  individual 
library  in  the  country.  Space  will  not  allow  reference  to 
but  a few  of  the  gems  of  his  collection. 

When  quite  a young  man  Mr.  Childs,  was  a diligent 
reader  of  the  better  class  of  new  books  as  they  came  from 
the  press.  He  was  much  interested  in  Hawthorne's  “ Scar- 
let Letter,"  which  had  just  been  published.  His  friend, 
the  late  W.  D.  Ticknor,  presented  him  with  an  unbound 
copy  which  he  still  retains,  elegantly  bound,  with  the  fol- 
lowing letter  from  the  author  which  will  be  interesting  to 
the  readers  of  this  foremost  romancer. 

“Lenox,  September  16th,  1851. 

“My  Dear  Sir  : 

‘‘Perhaps  it  may  interest  you  to  know  that  ‘The  Scarlet 
Letter  ’ (your  favorable  opinion  of  which  gratifies  me  much)  is  thus 
far  founded  on  fact,  that  such  a symbol  was  actually  worn  by  at  least 
one  woman,  in  the  early  times  of  New  England.  Whether  this 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS. 


343 


personage  resembled  Hester  Prynne  in  any  other  circumstances  of 
her  character,  I cannot  say  ; nor  whether  this  mode  of  ignomin- 
ious punishment  was  brought  from  beyond  the  Atlantic,  or  origi- 
nated with  the  New  England  Puritans.  At  any  rate,  the  idea  was 
so  worthy  of  them  that  I am  piously  inclined  to  allow  them  all  the 
credit  of  it.  Respectfully, 

Nathl.  Hawthorne. 

“To  George  W.  Childs,  Esq.” 

To  Mr.  James  T.  Fields  belongs  the  credit  of  bringing 
forth  to  the  public,  this  wonderful  romance.  In  his  “Yes- 
terdays with  Authors/’  he  says  : 

“In  the  winter  of  1849,  after  he  (Hawthorne)  had  been  ejected 
from  the  Custom  House,  I went  down  to  Salem  to  see  and  inquire 
after  his  health,  for  we  heard  he  had  been  suffering  from  illness. 
He  was  then  living  in  a modest  wooden  house  in  Mall  Street,  if  I 
remember  rightly  the  location.  I found  him  alone  in  a chamber 
over  the  sitting-room  of  the  dwelling  ; and  as  the  day  was  cold 
he  was  hovering  near  a stove.  We  fell  into  talking  about  his 
future  prospects,  and  he  was,  as  1 feared  I should  find  him,  in  a 
very  desponding  mood. 

“ ‘Now,’  said  I,  ‘is  the  time  for  you  to  publish,  for  I know 
during  these  years  in  Salem  you  must  have  got  something  ready 
for  press.’ 

“ ‘ Nonsense,’  said  he,  ‘What  heart  had  I to  write  anything 
when  my  publishers  (M.  & Co.)  have  been  so  many  years  trying  to 
sell  a small  edition  of  ‘Twice  Told  Tales’  ? 

“I  still  pressed  upon  him  the  good  chances  he  would  have 
now  with  something  new.  ‘ Who  would  risk  publishing  a book 
for  me , the  most  unpopular  writer  in  America  ?’  ‘I  would,’  said 
I,  ‘ and  would  print  an  edition  of  two  thousand  copies  of  any- 
thing you  write.’  ‘ What  madness  ! ’ he  exclaimed,  ‘ your  friend- 
ship for  me  gets  the  better  of  your  judgment.  ‘ No,  no,’  he  con- 
tinued, ‘I  have  no  money  to  indemnify  a publisher’s  losses  on  my 
account.’  I looked  at  my  watch,  and  found  that  the  train  would 
soon  be  starting  for  Boston,  and  I knew  there  was  not  much  time 
to  lose  in  trying  to  discover  what  had  been  his  literary  work  dur- 
ing these  last  few  years  in  Salem.  I remember  that  I pressed  him 
to  reveal  what  he  had  been  writing.  He  shook  his  head  and  gave 
me  to  understand  he  had  produced  nothing.  At  that  moment  I 


344 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS. 


caught  sight  of  a bureau  or  set  of  drawers  near  where  we  were  sit- 
ting, and  immediately  it  occurred  to  me  that  hidden  away  some- 
where in  that  article  of  furniture  was  a story  or  stories  by  the 
author  of  ‘ Twice  Told  Tales,’  and  I became  so  positive  of  it  that 
I charged  him  vehemently  of  the  fact.  He  seemed  surprised,  I 
thought,  but  shook  his  head  again  ; and  I rose  to  take  my  leave, 
begging  him  not  to  come  into  the  cold  entry,  saying  I would  come 
back  and  see  him  again  in  a few  days.  I was  hurrying  down  the 
stairs  when  he  called  after  me  from  the  chamber,  asking  me  to 
stop  a moment.  Then  quickly  stepping  into  the  entry  with  a roll 
of  MS.  in  his  hands,  he  said,  ‘ How  in  Heaven’s  name  did  you 
know  this  thing  was  there  ? As  you  have  found  me  out,  take 
what  I have  written  and  tell  me  after  you  get  home  and  have  time 
to  read  it,  if  it  is  good  for  anything.  It  is  either  very  good  or 
very  bad — I don’t  know  which.’  On  my  way  to  Boston  I read  the 
germs  of  ‘ Scarlet  Letter;’  before  I slept  that  night  I wrote  him 
a note  all  aglow  with  admiration  of  the  wonderful  story  he  had 
put  into  my  hands,  and  told  him  I would  come  again  to  Salem 
the  next  day  and  arrange  for  its  publication.  I went  out  in  such 
an  amazing  state  of  excitement  when  we  met  again  in  the  little 
house  that  he  would  not  believe  I was  really  in  earnest.  He 
seemed  to  think  I was  beside  myself,  and  laughed  sadly  at  my 
enthusiasm.  However,  we  soon  arranged  for  his  appearance  again 
before  the  public  with  a book.” 

Mr.  Fields  was  an  attached  and  valued  friend  of  Mr. 
Childs  as  long  as  he  lived,  and  frequently  made  his  home 
with  the  latter  when  in  Philadelphia.  They  had  formed 
an  intimacy  early  in  life,  and  began  by  Mr.  Fields  bringing 
to  Mr.  Childs  a letter  of  introduction  from  a mutual  friend, 
he  being  at  the  time  in  delicate  health,  and  desirous  of 
going  to  England  in  a sailing  vessel.  Mr.  Childs  secured 
for  him  a passage  on  a ship  bound  for  Liverpool,  and  the 
voyage  resulted  in  much  benefit  to  Mr.  Fields. 

The  last  time  I saw  Mr.  Hawthorne  was  in  New  York 
at  the  Astor  House,  on  his  way  to  Washington,  in  company 
with  his  friend,  Mr.  Ticknor,  with  whom  he  was  traveling 
south  for  the  benefit  of  his  health. 

I was  much  shocked  to  read  in  the  morning  papers  a 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS. 


345 


few  days  after  that  Mr.  Ticknor  had  suddenly  died  at  the 
Continental  Hotel,  Philadelphia.  Knowing  the  friendly 
relations  of  these  gentlemen  with  Mr.  Childs,  I applied 
to  him  for  information  concerning  the  sad  event.  He 
told  me  that  on  arrival  at  Philadelphia  they  both  called 
at  the  Ledger  office  and  seemed  to  be  in  good  spirits. 
This  was  on  Friday.  It  was  arranged  by  their  Philadelphia 
friends  that  they  should  attend  a party  to  be  given  the  next 
evening  by  Mr.  Joseph  Harrison.  There  was  much  dis- 
appointment among  those  who  had  gathered  at  the  elegant 
residence,  of  the  latter  gentleman,  in  not  seeing,  as  they 
had  expected,  the  foremost  author  of  America.  As  no 
explanation  of  their  absence  had  been  announced,  Mr. 
Childs  called  at  the  Continental  Hotel  the  following  Sun- 
day morning,  and  went  directly  to  the  rooms  they  occu- 
pied. He  knocked  at  the  door,  and  receiving  no  answer 
opened  it  and  went  in.  Mr.  Hawthorne  was  found  walking 
up  and  down  in  a seemingly  dazed  condition.  Mr.  Childs 
said  to  him,“  Hawthorne,  how  are  you?  Where  is  Ticknor  ?” 

“ They  have  taken  him  away,”  said  he. 

“What  do  you  mean?”  asked  Mr.  Childs.  “I  can’t 
understand  you.” 

“ Well,”  said  Mr.  Hawthorne,  “it  is  too  bad,  he  my  best 
friend  on  whom  I depended,  coming  here  for  my  benefit, 
to  please  me.” 

Mr.  Childs  thought  the  man  was  crazy  and  went  imme- 
diately to  the  office  and  asked  Mr.  Huffy,  the  clerk,  what 
was  the  matter.  “ Where  is  Mr.  Ticknor?”  He  was  in 
formed  of  his  death,  which  had  occurred  that  morning. 
Mr.  Childs  asked,  “Where  is  his  body?”  “ It  was  taken 
early  this  morning  to  the  undertaker’s,”  was  the  reply. 
Mr.  Childs  returned  to  Mr.  Hawthorne,  and  begged  him  to 
keep  quiet,  saying  that  he  would  take  care  of  him.  He 
then  went  to  the  undertaker’s  to  see  that  the  bo^y  was  em- 
balmed and  properly  cared  for,  and  telegraphed  Mr. 
Ticknor’s  eldest  son,  Howard,  who  came  on  and  took  the  re- 
mains of  his  father  to  Boston. 


15* 


346 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  ClIILDS. 


Mr.  Hawthorne  tarried  a few  days  in  Philadelphia, 
when  Mr.  Childs  placed  him  in  charge  of  a mutual  friend. 
Bishop  Howe,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  went  with  him  to 
Boston.  He  died  shortly  after  at  Plymouth,  N.  H.,  whence 
he  had  gone  under  the  charge  of  his  life-long  friend,  Ex- 
President  Franklin  Pierce. 

Mr.  Field,  in  his  “ Yesterday  with  Authors,”  thus  speaks 
of  the  last  letter  received,  and  his  last  farewell: 

“ Hawthorne  wrote  to  me  from  the  Continental  Hotel  dating 
his  letter  ‘Saturday  Evening.’ announcing  the  severe  illness  of 
his  companion.  He  did  not  seem  to  anticipate  a fatal  result,  but 
on  Sunday  morning  the  news  came  that  Mr.  Ticknor  was  dead. 

“Hawthorne  returned  at  once  to  Boston  and  stayed  here  over 
night.  He  was  in  a very  excited  nervous  state  and  talked  inces- 
santly of  the  sad  scenes  he  had  just  been  passing  through. 

“ We  sat  late  together  conversing  of  the  friend  we  had  lost,  and 
I am  sure  he  hardly  closed  his  eyes  that  night.  In  the  morning 
he  went  back  to  his  own  home  in  Concord.” 

The  following  hearty  greeting  from  the  great  novelist 
speaks  for  itself : 

“ Gad’s  Hill  Place, 

“ Higliam  by  Rochester,  Kent, 

“ Wednesday,  4th  November,  1868. 

“My  Dear  Mr.  Childs: 

‘ ‘ Welcome  to  England ! Dolby  will  have  told  you  that  I am  read- 
ing again — on  a very  fatiguing  scale — but  that  after  the  end  of  next 
week,  I shall  be  free  for  a fortnight  as  to  country  readings. 

“ On  Monday  next  I shall  be  in  town,  and  shall  come  straight 
to  pay  my  respects  to  Mrs.  Childs  and  you.  In  the  mean  time  will 
you,  if  you  can,  so  arrange  your  engagements  as  to  give  me  a day 
or  two  here  in  the  latter  half  of  this  month  ? My  housekeeper 
daughter  is  away  hunting  in  Hampshire,  but  my  sister-in-law  is 
always  in  charge,  and  my  married  daughter  would  be  charmed  to 
come  from  London  to  receive  Mrs.  Childs.  You  cannot  be  quieter 
anywhere  than  here,  and  you  certainly  cannot  have  from  anyone  a 
heartier  welcome  than  from  me. 

“ With  kind  regards  for  Mrs.  Childs, 

“ Believe  me, 

“ Faithfully  yours  always, 

“Charles  Dickens.” 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS. 


347 


Another  gem  in  the  library  is  a copy  of  “ Hood’s  Comic 
Annual."  This  volume  was  secured  for  Mr.  Childs  at  a 
great  cost  by  Mr.  Charles  Wellford,  as  there  were  many 
competing  bidders  among  English  collectors.  It  was  for- 
merly owned  by  Mr.  Dickens  and  has  the  following 
inscription  in  the  hand-writing  of  Hood: 

“ Pshaw!  away  with  leaf  and  berry, 

And  the  sober-sided  cup! 

^ Bring  a goblet,  and  bright  sherry! 

And  a bumper  fill  me  up. 

Tho’  I had  a pledge  to  shiver, 

And  the  longest  ever  was — 

Ere  his  vessel  leaves  our  river, 

I will  drink  a health  to  Boz! 

“ Here’s  success  to  all  his  antics, 

Since  it  pleases  him  to  roam, 

And  to  paddle  o’er  Atlantics, 

After  such  a sail  at  home! — 

May  he  shun  all  rocks  whatever, 

And  the  shallow  sand  that  lurks — 

And  the  passage  be  as  clever 
As  the  best  among  his  works! 

“ Thos.  Hood.” 

The  window  of  stained  glass  put  up  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  in  commemoration  of  the  poets,  George  Herbert  and 
William  Cowper,  was  gratefully  appreciated  by  the  English 
Nation.  The  erection  of  this  memorial  window  was  sug- 
gested by  Dean  Stanley,  and  the  entire  cost  was  paid  by 
Mr.  Childs. 

He  has  also  in  his  possession  the  writing  desk  of  Lord 
Byron,  on  which  he  wrote  the  celebrated  “ Don  Juan  " and 
other  poems,  and  upon  which  is  engraved  the  crest  and 
monogram  of  the  poet. 

On  a recent  visit  to  Mr.  Childs,  he  showed  me  the  harp 
that  Thomas  Moore  owned  at  the  time  of  his  death  and  on 
which  he  was  accustomed  to  play  and  sing: 


348 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS 


“ Dear  harp  of  my  country,  in  darkness  I found  thee, 

The  cold  chain  of  silence  had  hung  o’er  thee  long, 

When  proudly  my  own  island  harp  I unbound  thee, 

And  woke  all  thy  chords  to  light,  freedom  and  song.” 

The  following  letter  from  the  greatest  of  our  American 
poets  was  written  on  his  seventieth  birthday: 

“Cambridge,  March  13,  1877. 

“ My  Dear  Mr.  Childs: 

“ You  do  not  know  yet,  what  it  is  to  be  seventy  years  old.  I 
will  tell  you,  so  that  you  may  not  be  taken  by  surprise,  when  your 
turn  comes. 

“It  is  like  climbing  the  Alps.  You  reach  a snow-crowned 
summit,  and  see  behind  you  the  deep  valley  stretching  miles  and 
miles  away,  end  before  you,  other  summits,  higher  and  whiter, 
which  you  may  have  strength  to  climb,  or  may  not.  Then  you  sit 
down  and  meditate,  and  wonder  which  it  shall  be. 

“ That  is  the  whole  story,  amplify  it  as  you  may.  All  that  one 
can  say  is,  that  life  is  opportunity. 

“ With  seventy  good  wishes  to  the  dwellers  in  Walnut  Street, 
corner  of  Twenty-second, 

“Yours  very  truly, 

“Henry  W.  Longfellow.” 

In  the  collection  of  Mr.  Childs  is  found  the  following 
letter  from  Edgar  Allen  Poe  to  his  publishers: 

“ Philadelphia, 

“ Office  Graham’s  Magazine,  August  13,  ’41. 

“ Messrs.  Lea  & Blanchard, 

“ Philadelphia. 

“Gentlemen:  I wish  to  publish  a new  collection  of  my  prose 
Tales  with  some  such  title  as  this:  — 

“The  Prose  Tales  of  Edgar  A.  Poe,  including  ‘ The  Murders 
in  the  Rue  Morgue,’  the  ‘Descent  into  The  Maelstrom,’ and  all 
his  later  pieces,  with  a second  edition  of  the  ‘ Tales  of  the  Gro- 
tesque and  Arabesque.’  The  later  pieces  will  be  eight  in  number, 
making  the  entire  collection  thirty-three,  which  would  occupy  two 
thick  novel  volumes. 

“I  am  anxious  that  your  firm  should  continue  to  be  my 
publishers,  and,  if  you  be  willing  to  bring  out  the  book,  I should 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS. 


349 


be  glad  to  accept  the  terms  which  you  allowed  me  before,  that  is, 
you  to  receive  all  profits,  and  allow  me  twenty  copies  for  distribu- 
tion to  friends. 

“ Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  give  me  an  early  reply  to  this 
letter,  and  believe  me, 

“ Yours  very  respectfully, 

“ Edgar  A.  Poe.” 

Mr.  Poe  was  at  that  time  editor  of  Graham’s  Magazine, 
and  surely  had  a very  modest  estimate  of  the  commercial 
value  of  his  afterwards  famous  productions.  Mr.  Childs 
has  the  manuscript  complete  in  Mr.  Poe’s  handwriting  of 
the  first  tale  referred  to. 

Another  illustration  of  Mr.  Childs’  characteristic  response 
to  a suggestion  made  by  myself  may  be  fittingly  recorded 
here.  In  the  year  1870  I received  a letter  from  my  friend 
and  correspondent  James  R.  Randall,  then  and  now  editor 
of  the  “Augusta  ( Georgia ) Chronicle stating  that  he  had 
just  returned  from  Baltimore,  and  while  there  visited  the 
grave  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  which  had  not  even  a headstone 
to  mark  the  last  resting  place  of  that  brilliant  author.  He 
said  it  was  a shame  and  he  thought  the  attention  of  some 
public  spirited  citizen  should  be  called  to  the  neglected 
grave — Mr.  Randall  is  the  author  of  the  famous  “ rebel” 
song  “ Maryland,  my  Maryland,”  and  is  also,  like  Mr.  Poe 
and  Mr.  Childs,  a native  of  Baltimore.  On  receiving  Mr. 
Randall’s  letter  I immediately  sent  it  to  Mr.  Childs,  who 
responded  at  once,  saying  that  he  should  take  immediate 
measures  to  see  that  a suitable  monument  was  erected  to 
the  memory  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe.  He  ascertained  that 
some  action  had  already  been  taken  by  a few  citizens  of 
Baltimore  but  the  necessary  sum  had  not  been  raised.  He 
then  volunteered  to  pay  all  the  expenses  attending  the 
cost  of  the  monument  and  did  furnish  a greater  part  of  the 
money  on  its  completion. 

There  can  be  hardly  any  thing  more  unique  or  intrinsi- 
cally valuable  in  the  way  of  manuscripts  than  the  original 
copy  of  “ Our  Mutual  Friend.”  It  is  complete  and  bound 


350 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS. 


in  two  large  quarto  volumes.  The  manuscript  is  dated 
Thursday  January  4th,  1866,  and  signed  Charles  Dickens. 
In  the  first  volume  is  inserted  a letter  from  Mr.  Dickens  to 
Mr.  Childs,  which  surely  indicates  the  high  estimation  in 
which  the  great  novelist  held  the  latter.  Mr.  Childs  has 
in  careful  keeping  autograph  letters  of  the  following  world 
noted  authors  : — Lord  Byron,  Tom  Moore,  Samuel  John- 
son, William  Cowper,  Major  Andre,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  C. 
Hall,  Charles  Lamb,  Mary  Somerville,  Harriet  Martineau, 
S.  T.  Coleridge,  William  Wordsworth,  Robert  Southey, 
Robert  Burns,  Jane  Porter,  Hannah  More,  Leigh  Hunt, 
Mary  Howitt,  Mary  Russell  Mitford,  Mary  Cowden  Clarke, 
Samuel  Rogers,  Dean  Swift,  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley,  John 
Keats,  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Lord  Kelson,  David  Hume, 
Edmund  Burke,  Gibbon,  Goethe  and  Voltaire. 

My  readers  will  coincide  with  the  following  estimate  of 
the  late  Professor  Joseph  Henry  of  the  Smithsonian  In- 
stitute, in  a letter  to  a distinguished  resident  of  Phila- 
delphia : 

“ Mr.  Childs  is  a wonderful  man.  His  ability  to  apply  the 
power  of  money  in  advancing  the  well-being  of  his  fellow-men  is 
unrivalled.  He  is  naturally  kind  and  sympathetic,  and  these  gen- 
erous feelings  are  exalted,  not  depressed,  by  his  success  in  ac- 
cumulating a fortune. 

“ He  has  not  only  the  genius  to  accumulate  power  in  the  form  of 
money,  but  also  the  far  more  unsual  talent  of  applying  it  in  the 
best  manner  to  advance  the  happiness  of  himself  and  the  world. 
Like  man  in  the  classification  of  animals,  he  forms  a genius  in  him- 
self. He  stands  alone : there  is  not  another  in  the  wide  world 
like  him.” 

In  closing  this  sketch  of  George  W.  Childs,  it  is  proper 
to  speak  of  his  closest  friend,  Anthony  J.  Drexel  the  well- 
known  banker,  who  is  in  entire  sympathy  with  him  in  all 
his  public  movements  ; he  is  in  many  things  his  counter- 
part. He  assists  some  people  in  whom  Mr.  Childs  does  not 
feel  interested,  and  Mr.  Childs  helps  others  for  whom  Mr. 


GEOKGE  WILLIAM  CHILDS. 


351 


Drexel  has  no  particular  sympathy.  Each  of  these  gentle- 
men has  authority,  as  a general  rule,  to  put  the  other  down 
for  a subscription  if  he  be  absent  and  cannot  be  consulted. 
If  Mr.  Childs  puts  himself  down  for  one  thousand  dollars 
he  feels  at  liberty  to  give  the  name  of  Mr.  Drexel  for  the 
same  amount.  _ When  Mr.  Childs  was  in  Europe  Mr. 
Drexel  subscribed  five  thousand  dollars  in  his  name  and 
five  thousand  dollars  for  himself  for  sufferers  in  the  great 
Chicago  fire. 

The  Rev.  Henry  M.  Field,  D.D.,  editor  of  the  Neio 
York  Evangelist,  describes  editorially  in  that  paper  (Jan- 
uary 16,  1879),  a visit  made  by  a party  of  eminent  guests  of 
Mr.  Childs,  as  follows: — 

“ Among  the  many  notable  persons  present  was  Mr.  Anthony  J. 
Drexel,  the  banker,  who  is  well  known  for  his  great  wealth,  and 
also  for  his  large,  although  wise  and  discriminating,  charities. 
The  strong  friendship  which  exists  between  Mr.  Drexel  and  Mr. 
Childs  is  well  known  in  Philadelphia,  and  is  equally  honorable  to 
both.  It  is  sometimes  said  by  foreigners  that  friendship  does  not 
exist  in  America;  that  we  are  so  absorbed  in  business  and  money- 
making that  we  have  no  time  to  indulge  in  the  pleasure  of  friend- 
ship. But  if  this  were  true  in  many  cases,  here  at  least  is  an  excep- 
tion. It  is  a remarkable  thing  that  two  men,  who  are  apparently 
unlike,  should  contract  such  a friendship,  should  share  each  other’s 
confidence,  and  seeing  each  other  daily,  should  yet  never  weary 
of  one  another’s  society,  but  grow  constantly  in  each  other’s  affec- 
tion and  esteem.  It  is  certainly  a rare  instance  of  friendship,  and 
as  beautiful  as  it  is  rare.” 

Mr.  Drexel  and  Mr.  Childs  may  well  find  a parallel  in 
that  of  the  Cheeryble  Brothers  in  Nicholas  Nickleby,  who 
the  author  says  were  drawn  from  life.  “ Their  liberal 
charity,  their  singleness  of  heart,  their  noble  nature,  their 
unbounded  benevolence  are  no  creation  of  the  author’s 
brain,  but  are  prompting  every  day  (and  oftenest  by  stealth) 
some  munificent  generous  deed  in  that  town  of  which  they 
are  the  pride  and  honor.” 


XIX. 


HENRY  J.  RAYMOND -GEORGE  JONES. 

Four  great  Editors  who  became  Authors , Bryant , Greeley, 
Weed,  and  Raymond — Founding  the  “ New  York 
Times  " — Rayynond  contributes  “ all  he  owed  ” £0  the 
Capital  Stock — George  Jones  an  Albany  Bookseller 
— Raymond  elected  Lieut.-  Governor  of  New  York — 
— Challenged  by  William  L.  Yancey — Extracts  from 
Raymond's  Journal — Nominates  Andrew  Johnson  for 
Vice-President — Great  Sale  of  Raymond's  u Life  of 
Lincoln  " — Farewell  Dinner — Miles  O'Reilly  got  all 
down  and  more  too — Beecher's  letter  to  Dana — Ray- 
mond's Speech  at  Dickens'  Banquet — His  sudden 
death — Beecher's  Eloquent  Tribute  at  his  Funeral. 

TT  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  know,  I might  safely  say, 
“*■  intimately,  the  four  great  editors  whose  names  and 
whose  fame  became  national  through  the  journals,  of  which 
they  were  the  controlling  spirits  as  well  as  through  author- 
ship, all  of  them  having  been  writers  of  books.  The  young- 
est of  this  celebrated  quartette  was  the  first  to  leave  us,  and 
the  oldest  at  the  time  of  his  death  the  last  to  go.  All  of 
them  were  members  of  the  same  political  party.  Two  were 
practical  printers  ; two  were  natives  of  New  England  and 
the  others  of  New  York.  All  of  them  died  in  New  York, 
and  their  funerals  took  place  in  this  city  at  the  sanctuaries 
where  they  habitually  worshipped.  The  names  of  William 
Cullen  Bryant,  Thurlow  Weed,  Horace  Greeley,  and  Henry 
L352] 


HENRY  J.  RAYMOND. 


353 


Jarvis  Raymond  are  recorded  in  tlie  permanent  political  and 
literary  history  of  our  country. 

I had  met  Mr.  Raymond  occasionally  when  an  assistant 
editor  of  the  New  York  Tribune  with  Mr.  Greeley,  and 
became  acquainted~with  him  the  day  the  first  number  of 
the  New  York  Daily  Times  was  issued.  This  was  ten  years 
after  the  first  issue  of  the  New  York  Daily  Tribune , which 
had  proved  a great  commercial  success,  its  only  rival  being 
the  New  York  Herald.  The  public  were  ready  to  welcome 
a new  daily  paper  representing  the  views  so  clearly  set 
forth  in  the  prospectus  issued  by  Raymond,  Jones  & Co. 

Mr.  George  Jones,  the  managing  publisher,  then,  as  he 
is  now,  the  largest  owner  and  the  controller  of  the  New 
York  Times , I had  known  in  a business  way  when  a book- 
seller in  Albany;  he  was  also  at  that  time  a banker  and 
broker  in  that  city,  and  it  was  his  capital  and  the  capital 
he  brought  with  him  which  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
paper,  the  capital  stock  of  which  was  $100,000,  divided  in- 
to shares  of  $1,000  each.  The  largest  shareholders  were 
Mr.  Jones  and  his  banking  partner  E.  B.  Wesley,  both 
of  them  coming  from  Albany. 

The  first  number  of  the  New  York  Daily  Times  was 
issued  on  Sept.  18,  1851,  a morning  and  evening  paper,  the 
price  of  which  was  one  cent.  It  quickly  became  a favorite 
among  the  better  class  of  readers  and  was  successful  from 
the  start.  The  par  value  of  one  share,  being  at  that  time 
$1,000,  is  to-day  worth  not  less  than  $15,000  per  share,  in 
other  words  the  $100,000  capital  is  now  worth  a million  and 
a half  in  cash.  Soon  after  the  Neio  York  Times  was  known 
to  have  become  a rich  concern,  a friend  of  Mr.  Raymond 
asked  him  one  day  how  much  lie  had  contributed  to  the 
capital  stock.  He  replied,  “I  contributed  all  that  I owed, 
and  that  was  a good  deal.”  The  fact  was  that  twenty 
shares  of  the  capital  stock  were  given  to  Mr.  Raymond  by 
his  partners  without  any  cash  consideration  whatever. 
With  him,  then,  brains  counted  as  cash.  Recently  looking 
over  the  bound  volumes  of  the  Times , I find  in  the  first 


354 


HENRY  J.  RAYMOND. 


number  issued,  advertisements  of  Harper  & Bros.,  D. 
Appleton  & Co.,  George  P.  Putnam,  A.  D.  F.  Randolph 
and  other  well  known  publishers.  In  the  seventh  number, 
Sept.  26,  there  is  a notice  of  a meeting  held  to  honor  the 
memory  of  J.  Fenimore  Cooper,  who  had  died  the  week 
previous.  More  than  thirty  eminent  citizens  composed  the 
meeting  which  was  called  together  by  the  late  Rufus  W. 
Griswold,  a gentleman  always  foremost  on  such  occasions. 
Among  the  officers  of  the  meeting  were  Washington  Irving, 
James  K.  Paulding,  William  Cullen  Bryant,  Fitz  Greene 
Halleck  and  George  Bancroft.  All  of  those  then  present  are 
dead  except  the  latter  and  Donald  G.  Mitchell,  Richard  B. 
Kimball,  Parke  Godwin  and  John  Bigelow.  Mr.  Irving,  in 
a note  to  Dr.  Griswold  accepting  the  chairmanship  of  the 
committee,  said: 

“Mr.  Cooper’s  death  is  to  me  a shock.  I saw  him  the  other 
day  at  Putnam’s,  our  common  literary  resort,  a very  ‘castle  of  a 
man  ’ and  apparently  destined  to  outlive  me,  I being  several  years 
his  senior.” 

In  the  year  1852,  the  prosperity  of  the  Times  enabled 
the  proprietors  to  double  its  size.  Mr.  Raymond  had  se- 
cured a brilliant  corps  of  assistant  editors,  many  of  whom 
were  authors  of  books.  Notably  Charles  F.  Briggs,  Wil- 
liam Henry  Hurlbert,  Fitz  James  O'Brien,  E.  L.  Godkin, 
R.  J.  De  Cordova,  the  well-known  humorist,  and  Mr.  Ed- 
ward Seymour  ; the  latter  afterwards  became  a partner  of 
Scribner,  Armstrong  & Co.,  and  died  in  the  year  1877, 
much  regretted  by  all  who  knew  his  worth  and  ability. 

In  the  year  1854,  Mr.  Raymond  was  elected  Lieutenant 
Governor  of  New  York.  He  made  an  excellent  record  as  a 
presiding  officer,  and  the  following  year,  after  having 
declined  the  nomination  of  governorship,  resumed  his 
duties  on  the  Times , as  editor-in-chief. 

The  Republican  party,  as  is  well  known,  was  organized 
at  Pittsburgh,  February,  1856.  Mr.  Raymond  was  one  of 
the  most  active  leaders  in  its  formation,  and  drew  up  the 


HENRY  J.  RAYMOND. 


355 


address  to  the  people  which  became  the  corner-stone  of  the 
great  party  which  grew  into  power  four  years  later,  and 
which  has  controlled  the  country  ever  since. 

In  the  year  1860,  after  the  election  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, when  the  Southern  States  began  to  drift  rapidly  into 
secession,  William  L.  Yancey,  of  Alabama,  the  most  bril- 
liant, eloquent  and  daring  of  all  the  leaders  in  that  event- 
ful movement,  challenged  Mr.  Raymond  to  a discussion  on 
the  bearings  of  slavery.  Mr.  Raymond  accepted  the  chal- 
lenge, and  his  series  of  letters  to  Mr.  Yancey,  beginning 
November  23,  1860,  were  considered  the  ablest  presentation 
of  the  great  questions  of  disunion  and  slavery  that  had  ever 
been  made.  In  one  of  the  letters  Mr.  Raymond  made  the 
following  statement  : 

“ I received  a private  letter  not  many  days  ago  from  an  intelli- 
gent, upright,  fair-minded  and  influential  gentleman,  holding  high 
public  station  in  the  State  of  Mississippi,  in  which  he  closed  some 
remarks  on  the  election  by  saying  : — ‘ And  when  I say  that  I 
would  regard  death  by  a stroke  of  lightning  to  Mr.  Lincoln  as 
just  punishment  from  an  offended  Deity  for  his  infamous  and  un- 
patriotic avowals,  especially  those  made  on  a presentation  of  a 
pitcher  by  some  free  negroes  to  Gov.  Chase,  of  Ohio,  you  may 
judge  how  less  just  and  temperate  men  feel.’  Now  I have  it  on 
authority  which  you  would  not  question,  that  ‘Mr.  Lincoln 
never  saw  Gov.  Chase  in  his  life  ; that  he  never  attended  a meet- 
ing of  negroes,  free  or  slave,  in  his  life  ; and  that  he  never  saw  a 
pitcher  presented  by  anybody  to  anybody.’  But  the  statement 
was  published  originally,  so  far  as  I know,  in  the  New  York 
Herald , and  circulated  throughout  the  South.  No  denial  or  cor- 
rection was  allowed  to  follow  it.” 

Mr.  Raymond  was  in  the  habit  of  recording  in  a jour- 
nal for  nearly  thirty  years,  conversations  with  eminent  men 
and  interesting  incidents,  among  others  the  following  are 
of  public  interest. 

“January,  1863 — On  Thursday,  the  15th,  I received  at  dinner 
a telegram  from  Colonel  James  B.  Swain  at  Washington,  ‘ Your 
brother’s  corpse  is  at  Belle  Plaine.  Come  immediately.’  Know- 


356 


HENRY  J.  RAYMOND. 


ing  that  my  brother  had  been  sick  I made  no  doubt  of  the  truth 
of  the  message,  and  at  seven  the  next  morning  started  for  Wash- 
ington. I arrived  in  the  evening,  and  failing  to  see  Colonel  Swain, 
started  the  next  day  at  eight  for  Belle  Plaine.  It  was  a very  cold 
day,  the  boat  was  crowded  with  convalescent  soldiers  from  the 
hospitals  at  Washington,  and  everything  conspired  with  the  mel- 
ancholy nature  of  my  errand,  to  make  the  journey  one  of  discom- 
fort. One  of  my  compagnons  de  voyage,  Dr.  Dean  of  Albany,  had 
entered  upon  the  business  of  embalming  the  dead  of  the  army.  I 
made  all  necessary  inquiries  and  arrangements  regarding  my 
brother,  landed  at  Belle  Plaine  and  made  fruitless  inquiries  for 
his  body.  I finally  walked  to  the  headquarters  of  General  Wads- 
worth, in  whose  division  was  the  brigade  to  which  my  brother’s 
regiment  belonged.  He  received  me  with  great  kindness  and  got 
some  dinner  for  me  while  he  sent  one  of  his  aids,  Colonel  Cress, 
to  make  inquiries  into  the  circumstances  of  my  brother’s  death. 
While  seated  at  dinner  the  aid  returned  and,  my  brother  with  him! 
I had  the  pleasure  of  his  company  during  the  remainder  of  my 
dinner.  As  he  knew  nothing  of  my  errand  I puzzled  him  a good 
deal  by  telling  him  that  his  appetite  was  much  better  than  I 
expected  to  find  it,  etc.  I finally  told  him  the  message  which  had 
brought  me  down.  He  was  a good  deal  taken  aback,  but  said  lie 
would  forgive  the  blunder,  inasmuch  as  he  had  secured  a visit 
from  me.  It  turned  out  afterwards  that  Colonel  Swain  had  sent  a 
message  that  my  brother’s  corps  was  at  Belle  Plaine,  and  he  wished 
me  to  come  immediately  as  he  was  about  to  send  a boat  directly  to 
that  place.” 

Mr.  Raymond  in  his  journal  says  he  first  visited  Wash- 
ington in  1847,  and  while  there  he  met  Daniel  Webster 
and  in  conversation  with  him  said  : 

“ I ventured  to  express  a hope  that  he  would  give  the  world  a 
philosophical  history  of  Washington’s  administration,  upon  which 
I had  been  told  he  had  been  engaged,  because  I thought  it  would 
be  desirable  for  his  own  fame,  and  would  moreover  set  up  a land- 
mark for  future  ages.  Mr.  Webster  said  in  reply  that  he  had 
contemplated  such  a work;  he  had  marked  out  its  plan;  resolved 
to  make  three  volumes  of  it,  divided  it  into  chapters;  written  a 
portion,  and  made  a very  copious  collection  of  materials  for  the 
whole  work.  He  stated  quite  in  detail  the  outline  of  his  plan, 


HENRY  J.  RAYMOND. 


357 


saying  that  lie  desired  neither  to  make  it  a mere  narration  like 
Hume,  nor  a mere  biography  like  Rapin,  but  to  combine  the  two 
and  make  the  whole  as  vivid  and  graphic  as  possible.  The  per- 
sons Washington  had  grouped  around  him  in  council  seemed  to 
command  his  special  admiration,  and  he  expressed  a great  desire 
to  paint  the  scenes  presented  by  their  councils  with  more  warmth 
than  belonged,  in  his  opinion,  to  Washington’s  temperament.” 

In  1861,  Mr.  Raymond  was  elected  member  of  Congress 
from  the  City  of  New  York,  where  his  great  ability  as  a 
debater  and  leader  was  very  soon  recognized. 

In  the  same  year,  at  the  Republican  National  Conven- 
tion at  Baltimore,  it  was  mainly  through  his  efforts  as 
Chairman  of  the  New  York  delegation,  that  Andrew  John- 
son was  nominated  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  an  action  on  his 
part  which  he  afterwards  deeply  regretted  in  consequence 
of  the  subsequent  official  career  of  President  Johnson. 

Early  in  the  year  of  1864,  Mr.  Raymond  said  to  me  one 
day  that  he  had  prepared  a history  of  the  administration 
of  President  Lincoln,  which  he  would  like  to  have  pub- 
lished. Of  course  I was  glad  to  become  his  publisher,  and 
the  book  was  issued  in  the  spring  of  that  year.  The  volume 
had  a moderate  sale  but  proved  in  the  end  to  be  a fortunate 
undertaking  for  the  publishers,  for  at  that  time  I had  tem- 
porarily resumed  business  with  my  former  Auburn  partner, 
Norman  C.  Miller.  In  April,  the  following  year,  the 
excitement  produced  by  the  assassination  of  President 
Lincoln,  created  among  the  people  a lively  desire  to  read 
everything  accessible  concerning  that  remarkable  man. 
I called  on  Mr.  Raymond  and  suggested  his  revising  and 
enlarging  the  volume  already  published  to  date.  After 
some  hesitancy,  on  account  of  the  engrossing  cares  devolv- 
ing upon  him,  he  finally  accepted  the  proposition  made 
him,  relying  upon  two  trained  assistants  then  engaged  in 
the  editorial  department  of  the  Times , to  aid  him  in  pre- 
paring the  work.  As  there  were  many  other  announce- 
ments and  publications  of  the  life  of  Lincoln,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  lose  no  time  in  the  preparation  of  the  proposed 


358 


IIENRY  J.  RAYMOND. 


volume.  It  was  written  and  published  in  about  ninety  days 
after  Mr.  Lincoln’s  death,  and  although  an  octavo  volume 
the  lowest  price  of  which  was  three  dollars,  about  65,000 
copies  were  sold  in  six  months.  The  following  explanatory 
preface  by  Mr.  Raymond  introduced  the  work  : 

“ During  the  presidential  canvass  of  1864,  the  author  of  this 
work  prepared  for  its  publishers  a volume  upon  the  administration 
of  President  Lincoln.  Its  main  object  was  to  afford  the  American 
people  the  materials  for  forming  an  intelligent  judgment  as  to  the 
wisdom  of  continuing  Mr.  Lincoln  for  four  years  more,  in  the 
presidental  office. 

“ This  canvass  resulted  in  his  re-election,  but  he  had  scarcely 
entered  upon  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  his  second  term, 
■when  his  career  was  closed  by  assassination,  lie  had  lived  long 
enough,  however,  to  finish  the  great  work  which  had  devolved 
upon  him.  Before  his  eyes  were  closed  they  beheld  the  overthrow 
of  the  rebellion,  the  extirpation  of  slavery,  and  the  restoration, 
over  all  the  land,  of  the  authority  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States. 

“Not  the  people  of  his  own  country  alone,  but  all  the  world, 
will  study  with  interest  the  life  and  public  acts  of  one  whose  work 
was  at  once  so  great  and  so  successful.  The  principles  which 
guided  his  conduct  and  the  policy  by  which  he  sought  to  carry 
them  out — the  temper  and  character  which  were  the  secret  sources 
of  his  strength — will  be  sought  and  found  in  the  acts  and  words 
of  his  public  life.  For  more  truly,  perhaps,  than  any  other  man 
of  his  own,  or  of  any  other  time,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  but  one  charac- 
ter and  one  mode  of  action  in  public  and  private  affairs.  It  is  the 
purpose  of  this  work,  so  far  as  possible,  to  facilitate  this  inquiry. 
Every  public  speech,  message,  letter  or  document  of  any  sort  from 
his  pen,  so  far  as  accessible,  will  be  found  and  included  in  its 
pages.  These  documents,  with  the  narrative  by  wffiieh  they  are 
accompanied,  may,  it  is  hoped,  aid  the  public  in  understanding 
aright  the  character  and  conduct  of  the  most  illustrious  actor  in  the 
most  important  era  in  American  History.” 

After  Mr.  Raymond’s  term  of  office  expired  as  a represen- 
tative of  Congress  he  again  returned  to  his  more  congenial 
duties  on  the  New  York  Times . He  had  had  enough  of 


HENRY  J.  RAYMOND. 


359 


politics,  lie  said,  and  intended  thereafter  to  devote  himself 
entirely  to  journalism,  which  was  more  to  his  taste. 

On  April  18, 1865,  Charles  Dickens  was  given  a farewell 
dinner  at  Delmonico’s  by  the  “ New  York  Press  Club.” 
It  was  a very  distinguished  gathering,  at  which  Horace 
Greeley  presided.  Mr.  Raymond  made  one  of  his  brilliant 
speeches,  from  which  the  following  is  a brief  extract: 

“ The  most  pleasant  of  my  recollections  in  connection  with  the 
Press  of  New  York  is  that  in  that  form  or  organization  it  has  been 
our  good  fortune  at  various  times  to  greet  as  guests,  and  to  entertain 
with  whatever  hospitality  we  were  able  to  extend  to  them,  gentle- 
men of  distinction  and  position  who  did  us  the  honor  to  visit  us 
from  countries  of  Europe.  I remember  almost  the  first  of  those 
occasions,  when  that  truly  great  man,  then  recently  expelled 
from  the  office  of  Governor  of  Hungary,  Kossuth,  the  exile,  came 
to  this  country,  charmed  so  many  of  our  people  by  the  sea-shore 
and  in  the  depths  of  densest  wilderness  of  the  West,  and  in  great 
cities  and  everywhere  he  went,  by  the  silver  voice  in  which  he 
uttered  such  sweet  words  in  behalf  of  liberty  and  freedom,  and  by 
that  sad,  solemn  eye  with  which,  as  our  eloquent  oratefTjWfus 
Choate,  had  said:  k He  seemed  constantly  to  be  beholding  the  sad 
procession  of  unnamed  demigods  who  had  died  for  their  native 
land.’  He  was  one  of  the  most  honored  guests  of  the  New  York 
Press.  Then  came  to  us  and  honored  us  by  his  presence,  as  he  has 
honored  England  and  the  world  by  his  services,  that  great  states- 
man your  people,  sir  (turning  to  Mr.  Dickens),  now  honor  as  the 
honor  few  among  their  dead  or  living,  Richard  Cobden.  Then,  too, 
came  to  us  and  greeted  us  with  the  right  hand  of  brotherhood, 
your  great  brother  in  literature,  William  M.  Thackeray.  And  I 
may  say  that  of  the  many  things  that  touched  the  hearts  of  our 
people,  none  touched  them  more  nearly  or  struck  home  more 
closely  than  the  feeling  and  eloquent  words  of  the  heart  in  which 
he  spoke  to  us  of  his  brother  in  letters,  Charles  Dickens.” 

In  the  summer  of  1867  he  made  his  arrangements  for  a 
trip  to  Europe.  A farewell  dinner  was  given  him  at  the 
“ Athenaeum  Club,”  by  his  fellow-journalists.  Mr.  Charles 
A.  Dana  presided,  and  spoke  in  eloquent  terms  of  the  ser- 
vices Mr.  Raymond  had  rendered  the  country.  He  referred 


360 


HENRY  J.  RAYMOND 


to  his  first  introduction  by  Mr.  Greeley  to  Mr.  Raymond, 
twenty  years  previous,  in  a dusty  attic  in  Ann-street,  which 
was  then  the  editorial  room.  Mr.  Dana  said  that  he  remem- 
bered a long  talk  they  had  at  their  first  meeting,  when  they 
plunged  into  German  philosophy  and  metaphysics,  subjects 
with  which  they  were  both  familiar.  Mr.  Robert  B.  Roose- 
velt, so  well  known  in  the  political  and  piscatory  world, 
sang  on  that  occasion  to  the  tune  of  4 ‘Jeannette  and  Jean- 
not”  an  impromptu  parting  song,  written  by  the  late 
Charles  G.  Halpine,  so  well-known  as  “Miles  O’Reilly/’ 
The  song  opens  as  follows  : — 

“ TO  RAYMOND  ON  HIS  TRAVELS. 

{Air:  Jeannette  and  Jeannot.) 

“ Oh,  your  boat  is  at  the  pier, 

And  your  passage  has  been  paid, 

But  before  you  go,  my  dearest  dear 
Accept  this  serenade! 

For  with  friendliness  we  burn, 

And  rejoicing  come  the  rhymes. 

To  toast  the  health  and  safe  return 
Of  him  who  rules  the  Times, — 

To  toast  the  health  and  safe  return 
Of  him  who  rules  the  Times.''1 
******** 

After  Halpine  had  finished  writing  the  song  and  the 
toasts  had  been  drank,  Mr.  George  Jones  asked  him  if  he 
had  got  it  all  down.  The  former  quickly  replied,  “ yes, 
and  more  too.” 

Mr.  Beecher  sent  the  following  characteristic  letter  : — 

“ Peekskill,  Thursday,  July  11,  1867. 

“ Hon.  Charles  A.  Dana, 

“Dear  Sir: — 

“It  would  give  me  pleasure,  if  I were  in  town,  to  accept 
your  invitation  to  a dinner  in  honor  of  Mr.  Raymond,  before  his 
departure  to  Europe.  His  services  to  the  country  during  the 
great  struggle  which  has  changed  the  history  of  this  nation  were 


HENRY  J.  RAYMOND. 


361 


such  as  to  eutitle  him  to  the  gratitude  of  every  patriot.  I shall 
not  forget  the  dark  periods  of  that  struggle,  and  I know  who  they 
were  who  animated  the  courage  of  our  citizens,  who,  without 
wavering,  maintained  hope  of  a favorable  result  and  labored  intel- 
ligently and  bravely  for  it.  .... 

“ I desire  to  express  to  Mr.  Raymond  my  gratitude  for  his 
firmness,  sagacity  and  undeviating  courage  through  these  trying 
periods.  Courage  is  easy  now.  The  whole  world  is  at  our  back. 
Then,  the  world  was  against  us  ; defeats  lowered  and  victories 
lingered.  Courage  then  was  worth  arms  and  armed  men,  to  a 
cause  which  was  to  triumph  only  through  much  tribulation.  I beg 
you  to  convey  to  Mr.  Raymond  the  expression  of  my  esteem  and 
my  best  wishes  for  his  prosperous  voyage  and  speedy  return. 

“I  am  truly  yours, 

“Henry  Ward  Beecher.” 

Mr.  Raymond  passed  the  afternoon  previous  to  his  death 
in  Greenwood  making  arrangements  for  the  re-interment 
of  his  son  Walter’s  remains,  and  called  at  the  office  of  the 
Times  about  six  o’clock  in  the  evening.  Passing  a few 
minutes  in  conversation  on  matters  pertaining  to  the  busi- 
ness of  the  paper,  he  returned  home.  After  dinner  he  sat 
with  his  family  and  some  friends  until  between  nine  and 
ten  o’clock,  when  he  left  them  to  attend  a political  con- 
sultation, and  his  family  saw  no  more  of  him  until  he  was 
discovered  about  two  o’clock  next  morning  lying  in  a hall- 
way unconscious  and  apparently  dying.  He  had  locked  the 
outside  door  and  shut  the  inner  one,  and  was  then  appar- 
ently stricken  with  the  malady  that  closed  his  life.  The 
most  eminent  medical  aid  was  at  once  summoned,  and  the 
utmost  that  science  or  skill  could  do  was  done  in  vain.  He 
remained  unconscious,  and  died  tranquilly  about  five  o’clock 
in  the  morning.  It  will  not  be  altogether  without  interest 
in  the  closing  of  a painful  story  to  say  that  the  grandfather 
and  grandmother  of  Mr.  Raymond  on  his  mother’s  side,  as 
well  as  one  of  his  uncles,  all  died  of  apoplexy. 

The  next  morning,  June  19th,  the  Times  appeared  in 
full  mourning.  Suddenly  it  had  lost  its  founder.  His 
unexpected  death  caused,  as  well  it  might,  a profound  sen- 


362 


HENRY  J.  RAYMOND. 


sation.  The  public  were  not  prepared  for  such  a startling 
event  which  was  dwelt  upon  by  the  press  throughout  the 
United  States,  as  a national  loss  to  journalism. 

His  funeral  took  place  June  2lst,  at  the  University 
Place  Presbyterian  Church,  and  was  attended  by  an  im- 
mense assemblage  of  neighbors -and  friends.  Among  the 
pall-bearers  were  Thurlow  Weed  and  Horace  Greeley.  A 
long  and  eloquent  funeral  address  was  delivered  by  the 
greatest  preacher  then  living,  as  he  is,  in  my  opinion,  the 
greatest  preacher  now  living.  The*  following  is  a brief 
extract  of  Mr.  Beecher’s  eloquent  tribute  to  his  deceased 
friend  : 

“ There  is  no  power  for  good  that  can  compare  with  the  Daily 
Press;  no  pulpit  like  it  for  disseminating  knowledge  among  men. 
And  among  those  who  have  been  the  builders  of  the  great  moral 
agency,  this  great  agency  of  civilization — not  the  founders,  but 
the  finishers  of  the  institution — stood  Mr.  Raymond  pre-eminent. 
Aside  from  the  general  ability  with  which  he  conducted  the  Press, 
it  is  gratifying  to  remark  here  how  singularly  free  his  whole  public 
career  has  ever  been  from  bitterness;  how  nobly  and  persistently 
he  refused  to  lend  his  paper  to  passionate  discussions;  how  he 
never  lent  himself  to  passionate  invective,  and  never  permitted  his 
paper  to  be  the  medium  in  this  respect  for  others;  how  sagacious 
reasoning  and  a high  moral  strength  breathed  in  his  words;  and 
now  that  he  has  departed  from  among  us  it  is  gratifying  to  look 
back  on  his  career,  and  to  say  that  the  work  he  was  engaged  in,  of 
giving  a higher,  a nobler,  and  a purer  moral  sentiment  to  the 
Press,  covers  a multitude  of  imperfections.  This  was  the  work  he 
was  engaged  in ; this  is  the  work  he  did.  I have  it  in  my  heart  to 
say  here  that  instability  of  character  in  his  conduct  of  the  Press 
was  charged  against  him.  I have  heard  it  said  that  he  was  weak, 
and  never  believed  in  the  principles  or  things  he  advocated;  but  I 
recall  a time  when  the  nation  shivered  like  an  aspen  leaf;  I recall 
a time  when  a man  was  worth  an  army — those  days  when  what  was 
needed  most  was  open,  manly,  patriotic  courage.  And  you  and  I 
should  never  forget  to  be  grateful  for  the  example  he  set  to  those 
brave  men  who  at  once  pressed  to  the  front  through  his  appeals. 
He  let  his  voice  ring  out  clear,  and  without  variability,  and  without 
weakness  or  changing  to  the  very  end,  and  the  great  conflict  for 


GEORGE  JONES. 


363 


national  life  was  brought  to  a successful,  a glorious  and  blessed 
termination.  If  this  be  instability  and  variability,  oh,  that  there 
had  been  more  such  men  among  us.  The  services  he  rendered  the 
country  then  should  enshrine  his  memory  in  our  hearts  and  make 
his  name  dear  to  us  all.” 

The  following  appeared  at  the  time  in  the  New  York 
Evangelist  written  by  Rev.  H.  M.  Field,  D.D.,  its  well 
known  editor  and  a valued  friend  of  Mr.  Raymond: 

“I  spent  an  hour  with  Mr.  Raymond  at  his  home  when  the 
conversation  ran  on  topics  of  business  to  other  themes.  He  had 
lately  had  repeated  domestic  sorrow,  but  a few  months  before  he 
had  stood  at  the  bedside  of  a dying  father,  and  only  a few  weeks 
before  in  the  very  house  where  we  sat  a son  to  whom  he  was  greatly 
attached  had  given  up  his  young  soul  to  God.  Such  events  could 
not  but  produce  a deep  impression  oil  a thoughtful  mind.  He 
told  me  he  had  been  reading  with  interest  that  little  book  which 
had  made  so  much  stir  in  certain  quarters,  ‘Gates  Ajar.’  He 
thought  our  ideas  of  future  life  were  too  shadowy  and  dim;  and  he 
seemed  to  be  groping  after  something  more  definite  and  real  in  his 
conception  of  the  invisible  world.  Little  did  he  think  he  was  soon 
to  enter  it,  to  pass  within  the  veil  and  to  know  the  great  mystery. 
What  a solace  to  think  of  reunion  beyond  the  grave,  which  can 
make  the  dead  forget  all  the  bitterness  of  past  separation.” 


GEORGE  JONES. 

George  Jones  assumes  control  of  the  Times — When  $100,000 
would  have  been  cheap — Edwin  B.  Morgan  his  chief  as- 
sociate — Breaks  up  the  Tammany  Ring  — Tioeed 
wanted  to  buy  the  Times — Not  for  sale  at  any  price — 
The  Tribute  Book — Hudson’s  Splendid  Tribute  to  Jones. 

After  Mr.  Raymond’s  death,  his  surviving  partner 
and  the  principal  owner  of  the  Times  assumed  its  entire 
control,  not  only  as  a publisher,  but  the  sole  supervision  of 
its  editorial  columns. 


364 


GEORGE  JONES. 


For  eighteen  years,  Mr.  George  Jones  had  acted  with 
Mr.  Raymond  as  a unit  in  the  management  of  that  paper. 
In  all  those  years  there  never  was  an  unkind  word  uttered 
by  either  of  them;  they  had  always  acted  as  they  had  in- 
tended to  from  the  start,  in  perfect  harmony. 

There  was  one  important  occasion  on  which  they  differed, 
and  that  was  Mr.  Raymond’s  advocacy  of  President  John- 
son’s administration  in  his  reconconstruction  policy  which 
later  on  was  repudiated  by  Mr.  Raymond  himself.  Mr. 
Jones  says  that  he  once  told  Mr.  Raymond  that  he  would 
rather  have  given  $100,000  than  to  have  had  the  Times 
thus  committed.  Mr.  Raymond,  placing  his  hand  on  Mr. 
Jones’  shoulder  said  in  reply,  “and  that  would  have  been 
cheap  at  that.” 

The  policies  and  plans  of  Mr.  Raymond  were  faithfully 
carried  out  by  his  friend  and  late  partner.  One  of  his 
wishes  which  he  made  known  to  Mr.  Jones  shortly  before  his 
death,  was,  that  a voluntary  advance  in  salary  for  some  of 
the  faithful  co-workers  of  the  Times  should  be  made  for  the 
excellent  work  they  were  doing,  that  they  might  thus  share 
in  the  general  prosperity  of  the  paper.  It  is  hardly  neces- 
sary to  say  that  Mr.  Raymond’s  wishes  were  carried  out. 
Mr.  Jones  as  we  all  know  has  proved  to  be  a sagacious  and 
astute  manager  of  a great  paper.  He  is  to-day,  as  he  was 
immediately  after  Mr.  Raymond’s  death,  the  responsible 
head  of  the  paper,  uninfluenced  by  partisanship  or  party 
spoils,  conservative,  yet  liberal  and  progressive. 

Mr.  Jones’  first  great  achievement  after  he  assumed  the 
control  of  the  paper  was  the  exposure  of  the  great  Tammany 
Ring,  1870-71.  Tweed  and  his  fellow  county  officials  had 
been  robbing  the  city  for  years  of  millions  of  dollars.  It 
was  Mr.  Jones’  long  head  that  laid  bare  the  robbery.  A 
complete  revolution  took  place  in  the  City  and  County  de- 
partments. The  thieves  were  swept  from  power,  becoming 
fugitives  from  justice,  and  inmates  of  prisons.  A vain 
effort  was  made,  not  to  purchase  the  silence  of  the  Times , 


GEORGE  JONES. 


865 


but  the  paper  itself,  for  which  an  enormous  sum  was  offered 
by  Tweed  and  his  adherents. 

The  following  indignant  card  was  published  by  Mr. 
Jones  in  the  Times  of  March  28th  : 

“ Believing  that  the  course  which  the  Times  is  pursuing  is 
that  which  the  interests  of  the  great  body  of  the  public  demand, 
and  that  it  would  be  a base  betrayal  of  the  public  to  turn  aside 
from  that  course  until  an  honest  government  and  an  incorruptible 
judiciary  are  restored  to  the  community,  no  money  that  could  be 
offered  should  induce  me  to  dispose  of  a single  share  of  my  prop- 
erty to  the  Tammany  faction,  or  to  any  man  associated  with  it,  or 
indeed  to  any  person  or  party  whatever,  until  this  struggle  is 
fought  out.  I have  the  same  confidence  in  the  integrity  and  firm- 
ness of  my  fellow-proprietors,  and  believe  that  they  will  decline  to 
sell  their  honor  to  a corrupt  clique  at  the  instigation  of  ‘ Repub- 
licans ’ who  are  as  unprincipled  as  their  employers.  Rather  than 
prove  false  to  the  public  in  the  present  crisis  I would,  if  necessity 
by  any  possibility  arose,  immediately  start  another  journal  to 
denounce  those  frauds  upon  the  people,  which  are  so  great  a 
scandal  to  the  city,  and  I should  carry  with  me  in  this  renewal  of 
our  present  labors  the  colleagues  who  have  already  stood  by  me 
through  a long  and  arduous  contest.  Even  if  the  Times  could  be 
silenced  by  some  fresh  abuse  of  judicial  authority,  as  I believe  it 
cannot  be,  it  would  not  cause  a week’s  cessation  of  the  exposures 
of  the  frauds,  which  we  are  now  making,  committed  by  the 
‘ Ring.’  I have,  from  the  first  number  of  the  Times , taken  too 
active  a part  in  its  management,  and  feel  far  too  deep  a solicitude 
for  its  good  name,  to  dishonor  it  by  making  it  the  advocate  of 
mendacity  and  corruption.  I pledge  myself  to  persevere  in  the 
present  contest  under  all  and  any  circumstances  that  may  arise, 
through  good  report  and  evil  report,  in  success  or  failure,  and 
even  though  the  ‘Ring’  and  its  friends  offered  mo  for  my  inter- 
est in  the  property  as  many  million  dollars  as  they  annually 
plunder  from  the  city  funds,  it  would  not  change  my  purpose. 
This  determination  is,  I have  every  reason  to  believe,  fully  shared 
by  my  co-proprietors,  and  by  the  staff  who  act  with  me  in  the 
paper.  George  Jones.” 

It  was  clear  from  this  that  although  Mr.  Jones  deter- 
mined not  to  abate  one  jot  or  title  of  the  exposures  he  had 


366 


GEORGE  JONES. 


commenced  of  the  corruptions  of  the  Tammany  leaders, 
yet  he  was  not  certain  of  always  having  control  of  the 
Times  so  as  to  be  ready  to  expose  their  robberies. 

But  this  point  was  settled  on  the  19th  of  July,  1871, 
and  was  thus  announced  : 

“ The  shares  in  the  New  York  Times  attached  to  the  Raymond 
estate,  representing  about  one-third  of  the  property,  were  yester- 
day purchased  by  Mr.  E.  B.  Morgan,  of  Aurora,  Cayuga  county. 
Mr.  Morgan  was  an  original  stockholder,  and  has  been  for  some 
time  past  one  of  the  managing  partners  of  the  paper  in  conjunction 
with  Mr.  George  Jones,  another  of  the  original  proprietors.  These 
two  gentlemen  now  hold  eighty-two  out  of  the  hundred  shares  of 
stock  in  their  own  funds.  It  has  been  repeatedly  asserted  that 
the  Raymond  shares  were  likely  to  fall  into  the  possession  of  the 
New  York  ‘ Ring,’  and  it  is  in  order  to  assure  our  friends  of  the 
groundlessness  of  all  such  statements,  that  we  make  known  the 
actual  facts.  The  price  paid  in  ready  money  for  the  shares  in 
question  was  $375,000.  Down  to  the  time  of  Mr.  Raymond’s 
death,  the  shares  had  never  sold  for  more  than  $6,000  each.  Mr. 
Morgan  has  now  paid  upward  of  $11,000  each  for  thirty-four  of 
them,  and  this  transaction  is  the  most  conclusive  answer  which 
could  be  given  to  the  absurd  rumors  sometimes  circulated  to  the 
effect  that  the  course  taken  by  the  New  York  Times  toward  the 
Tammany  leaders  had  depreciated  the  value  of  the  property.  The 
public  may  feel  assured  that  the  Times  will  not  swerve  from  the 
policy  which  it  has  long  pursued,  but  it  will  hereafter  be  more 
persistent  than  ever  in  its  efforts  to  bring  about  those  political 
reforms  which  the  people  require  and  expect.” 

The  late  Frederick  Hudson — long  the  managing  editor 
of  the  New  York  Herald , in  his  History  of  Journalism, 
in  commenting  upon  the  preceding  extraordinary  events, 
says : 

“ The  Times  thus  placed  entirely  under  the  control  of  two  gen- 
tlemen of  decided  character  and  energy,  the  war  against  the 
* Tammany  Ring  ’ was  carried  on  with  the  utmost  vigor,  and  the 
end  wTas  the  utter  annihilation  of  the  immense  power  the  leaders 
of  the  ‘ Ring  ’ had  acquired  in  the  metropolis.  The  particulars 
of  this  extraordinary  affair  are  too  fresh  in  the  public  mind  to 


GEORGE  JONES. 


367 


need  repeating  here.  There  hay  been  nothing  equal  to  the  result 
thus  obtained  in  the  history  of  journalism.  The  developments  of 
the  stupendous  corruption  in  the  city  government  made  by  the 
Times  aroused  the  indignation  of  the  people  through  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  land.  The  gigantic  increase  of  the  city  debt, 
the  enormous  wealth  acquired  in  two  or  three  years  by  a few  men 
in  office:  the  way  the  State  Legislature  was  influenced,  corrupted 
and  controlled,  -were  fully  exposed  in  the  Times.  It  was  boldly 
and  fearlessly  done  by  that  paper,  and  Messrs.  Jones  and  Morgan 
deserve  well  of  their  country.” 

In  1865,  Mr.  Jones  furnished  the  capital  to  my  firm, 
then  Derby  & Miller,  for  the  publication  of  “ The  Tribute 
Book,”  a sumptuous  memorial  volume,  containing  a record 
of  every  form  of  contributions  made  by  individuals  in  aid  of 
suppression  of  the  rebellion.  It  contained  an  account  of  all 
that  was  done  by  sanitary  societies,  by  benevolent  commis- 
sions, by  women,  by  children  ; of  the  Sunday-schools  that 
scraped  lint,  of  the  ladies  who  served  in  hospitals,  of  the 
committees  who  fed  marching  regiments,  of  the  quilting  bees 
who  made  havelocks,  of  the  millionaires  who  gave  steam- 
ers, of  the  immense  work,  in  short,  done  outside  of  the 
government, — work  done  in  most  countries,  when  it  is  done 
at  all,  by  the  government  itself.  The  book  was  illustrated, 
printed  and  bound  in  the  most  expensive  manner,  forming 
one  large  royal  octavo  volume.  It  was  undertaken,  as  he 
said,  not  to  make  money,  but  to  aid  in  putting  a very  re- 
markable record  in  an  enduring  form.  This  was  Ms  Tri- 
bute to  the  people. 


XX. 


CHEVALIER  WIKOFF. 

Thurlow  Weed’s  Letter  about  Wikoff — The  Latter's  Court - 
ship  of  Jane  Gamble — Becomes  a Roving  Diplomatist — 
Meets  Many  Celebrities — James  Gordon  Bennett 
Startles  Him — Brings  Fanny  Ellsler  to  America — 
Charles  Sumner  arid  Fanny  Ellsler — Intimate  Friend 
of  Napoleon — Chevalier  WiJcoff  finds  his  Publisher — 
The  Consequences  of  his  Courtship — Imprisoned  for 
Abduction — Reminiscences  of  an  Idler — Dies  at 
Brighton . 

TN  the  year  1852,  the  late  Thurlow  Weed,  then  in  Europe, 
A was  writing  some  interesting  letters  for  the  Albany 
Journal.  They  attracted  a good  deal  of  attention,  as  they 
were  all  more  or  less  full  of  interest,  none  more  so  than 
the  one  dated  Genoa,  January  27th,  of  that  year,  of  which 
the  following  is  an  extract  : 

“This  being  the  scene  of  Mr.  Henry  Wikoff’s  attempt  to  en- 
force his  marriage  with  a lady  of  large  fortune,  and  the  place  of 
his  imprisonment,  I took  occasion  to  inquire  into  the  facts. 

“ They  strike  me  as  quite  curious,  so  much  so  indeed  as  to  be 
worth  repeating,  especially  as  the  parties  are  of  our  own  country. 
The  history  altogether  is  full  of  romance  (the  romance  of  truth), 
but  I shall  give  only  a simple  narrative  : 

“ ‘ Chevalier  Wikoff,’  as  he  is  called,  is  a Philadelphian,  well 
educated,  with  a fine  person  and  attractive  manners,  who  has  been 
figuring  in  politics  and  literature,  fashion  and  frolic  for  nearly 
thirty  years,  and  is  pretty  well  known  in  Europe  and  America. 
He  accompanied  Fanny  Ellsler  to  America  as  her  friend  and 
[368] 


CHEVALIER  WIKOFF. 


369 


manager.  He  was,  and  some  say  is,  wealthy,  but  extremely  penur- 
ious. He  sent  for  the  American  consul  after  his  arrest  and 
demanded  to  be  exempted  from  ordinary  process  of  the  law  on 
the  ground  that  he  was  employed  by  Lord  Palmerston  to  promote, 
by  correspondence,  &c.,  friendly  relations  between  England  and 
America.  But  the  Sardinian  authorities  would  not  listen  to  this 
demand  and  he  was  finally  induced  to  employ  counsel.  He  was 
committed  to  prison  fora  criminal  offense,  but  an  effort  is  making 
with  a probability  of  success  to  get  his  case  on  to  the  civil  calen- 
dar. This  would  greatly  mitigate  his  punishment. 

“ The  lady  is  Miss  Jane  Gamble,  a daughter  of  John  Gamble, 
Esq.,  and  a niece  of  Col.  Gamble,  of  Philadelphia.  She  came  when 
a child  to  England,  where  she  was  adopted  and  educated  by  her 
uncle  Mr.  Dunlop,  a gentleman  of  fortune.  In  person  she  is 
small  and  delicate  ; in  mind  and  manners  cultivated  and  accom- 
plished ; in  conversation  spirited  and  attractive  ; in  temperament 
excitable,  but  confiding  and  affectionate.  How,  it  may  be  asked, 
do  jmu  know  all  this  ? It  is  the  result  of  observation  during  an 
interview  of  four  hours  to-day,  when  Miss  Gamble  with  the  ut- 
most frankness  gave  me  a free  revelation  of  the  origin,  progress 
and  results  of  her  acquaintance  with  the  ‘ Chevalier.’  And  as  the 
whole  matter  is  in  a few  days  to  become  judicially  public  I have 
her  permission  to  give  the  facts  to  such  as  feel  an  interest  in  them.” 

This  letter  was  widely  copied  in  the  newspapers  through- 
out the  United  States:  I was  prepared  then  when  Mr. 
Wikoff  brought  me  the  manuscript  of  a book  entitled,  “My 
Courtship  and  its  Consequences,”  to  readily  accept  the 
same  for  publication.  The  career  of  this  celebrated  “rov- 
ing diplomatist,”  as  he  was  frequently  called,  had  been 
extraordinary.  He  was  literally  a man  of  the  world.  It 
was  interesting  to  listen  to  his  reminiscences  as  related  by 
himself. 

Henry  Wikoff  was  born  in  Philadelpia,  and  at  an  early 
age  was  taken  by  his  father,  a prominent  citizen  of  that 
city,  to  Princeton,  to  prepare  for  college  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Rev.  Robert  Baird,  D.  I).,  whom  many  of  my 
readers  will  remember  as  a well  known  Presbyterian  clergy- 
man, and  author  of  a volume  “Religion  in  America.” 


370 


CHEVALIER  WIKOFF. 


In  due  time  young  Wikoff  entered  Yale  College,  where 
he  formed  a life-long  acquaintance  with  the  late  John  Van 
Buren,  also  with  N.  P.  Willis,  whom  he  describes  as  hay- 
ing at  that  time  “a  reputation  of  rare  poetical  talent, 
although  his  tone  and  bearing  were  aristocratic  not  unmix- 
ed with  hauteur.”  Young  Wikoff  was  privately  dismissed 
from  Yale  in  consequence  of  some  irregularities,  and  after 
trying  in  vain  to  enter  Harvard  he  found  favor  with  the 
celebrated  President  Nott,  of  Union  College,  where  he  was 
graduated  in  1831.  Soon  after  this  he  commenced  the 
study  of  law,  which  proved  to  be  anything  but  agreeable 
to  his  tastes,  as  he  much  preferred  to  read  fiction. 

In  his  Reminiscences,  he  says  : 

“‘In  the  way  of  general  rending  at  this  time  I used  to 
devour  Bulwer’s  novels;  his  Pelham  enchanted  me.  I felt  a 
new  master  of  fictiou  had  appeared,  and  with  a special  merit 
of  his  own.  It  was  the  vein  of  Philosophy  pervading  his  writ- 
ings which  attracted  me,  and  aroused  a habit  of  reflection 
vastly  beneficial.  I believe  I derived  more  instruction  in  this 
way  from  Bulwer  than  any  author  I ever  read.  He  was  then  little 
known,  but  in  later  years  he  developed  genius  of  the  highest 
order.  In  history,  poetry,  oratory,  as  well  as  fiction,  he  gave 
indubitable  proofs  of  a master  mind.’” 

In  after  years  Wikoff  met  Lord  and  Lady  Bulwer,  and 
with  the  latter  corresponded  frequently.  Soon  after  being 
admitted  to  the  Bar  he  began  his  travels,  first  throughout 
the  United  States  and  afterwards  in  Europe,  where  he  re- 
sided the  larger  portion  of  the  time,  principally  in  London 
and  Paris.  Throughout  his  eventful  career  he  met  and 
became  intimate  with  some  of  the  most  distinguished  of 
the  world-noted  people.  He  relates  the  following  incident 
which  occurred  at  Dresden  half  a century  ago  ; 

“ We  had  just  finished  dinner  when  the  card  of  an  American 
gentleman  was  brought  in,  who  desired  to  pay  us  a visit.  We 
welcomed  him  cordially,  and  a sprightly  conversation  followed. 
He  was  full  of  anecdote  and  piquant  remark,  displaying  acute  ob- 


CHEVALIER  WIKOFF. 


371 


scrvation  and  great  independence  of  character.  He  was  living  in 
Dresden,  studying  German  and  enjoying  the  gayeties  of  this 
fascinating  town.  This  wa3  my  first  acquaintance  with  Samuel 
Ward.”* 

The  Chevalier  gives  some  exceedingly  interesting  ac- 
counts of  his  personal  relations  with  Louis  Napoleon,  the 
Countess  of  Blessington,  Lady  Bulwer,  Count  Dorsey, 
Fanny  Ellsler,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  Grote,  the  Countess 
Guiccioli,  Guizot,  Louis  Phillippe,  M.  Thiers,  Lamartine 
and  many  other  celebrities.  One  of  his  particular  acquain- 
tances was  the  renowned  Countess  Guiccioli,  whom  he 
often  met  and  talked  with  him  about  Lord  Byron,  show- 
ing him  some  of  the  poet’s  letters  to  her,  among  others, 
the  following : 

“Dearest  Teresa  : 

“You  are  and  ever  will  be  my  first  thought.  But  at  this  mo- 
ment I am  in  a most  dreadful  state,  not  knowing  which  way  to 
decide,  on  the  one  hand  fearing  that  I should  compromise  you 
forever  by  my  return  to  Ravenna,  and  on  the  other  dreading  I 
may  lose  you,  and  myself  too,  and  all  that  I have  ever  known  or 
tasted  of  happiness  by  never  seeing  you  more.  I pray,  I implore 
you,  to  be  comforted,  and  to  believe  I cannot  cease  to  love  you  but 
with  my  life.  Byron.” 

The  following  stanza  from  Lord  Byron’s  poem  “ To  the 
River  Po,”  alludes  to  this  celebrated  woman  : 

“Her  bright  eyes  will  be  imaged  on  thy  stream. 

Yes  ! they  will  meet  the  wave  I gaze  on  now; 

Mine  cannot  witness,  even  in  a dream, 

That  happy  wave  repass  me  in  its  flow, 

The  wave  that  bears  my  tears  return  no  more  : 

Will  she  return  by  whom  that  wave  shall  sweep  ? 

Both  tread  thy  banks,  both  wander  on  thy  shore — 

I by  thy  source,  she  by  the  dark  blue  deep  ! ” 

* Samuel  Ward,  who  subsequently  became  so  celebrated  in 
society  and  literary  circles,  died  recently  in  Italy. 


372 


CHEVALIER  WIKOFF. 


Mr.  Wikoff  gives  a very  amusing  account  of  the  way  he 
became  acquainted  with  the  late  James  Gordon  Bennett, 
with  whom  he  was  afterwards  so  intimately  connected. 
In  the  year  1838,  the  steamship  “ Sirius  ” arrived  in  New 
York,  and  as  this  was  the  first  ocean  steamer  from  an 
English  port,  the  arrival  produced  considerable  excitement. 
On  her  return  voyage  Mr.  Wikoff  was  a passenger,  as  was 
Mr.  Bennett,  he  says  : 

44  I was  startled  to  hear  that  Bennett  was  on  board  ; for  at  that 
time  he  gave  free  scope  to  his  slashing  powers  and  satirical  vein, 
and  every  body  trembled  lest  it  might  be  his  turn  next.  I looked 
anxiously  round  on  the  upper  deck,  where  I was  standing  as  we 
steamed  down  the  bay,  and  sidling  up  to  a quiet  and  inoffensive 
looking  man  near  me,  said — 4 Do  you  know  the  editor  of  the  Herald 
is  on  board  ? ’ 4 1 believe  he  is,’  he  answered.  4 1 only  wish  I knew 
him  by  sight.’  4 What  for  ? ’ queried  the  gentlemauly  sort  of  per- 
son I was  talking  to.  4 Why,  that  I might  keep  out  of  his  way. 
He  will  be  sure  to  stick  me  in  that  confounded  Herald  of  his.’ 

4 He  doesn’t  confer  that  favor  on  everybody,’  said  my  face- 
tious friend,  laughing.  4 Egad,  I would  not  trust  him.’  4 Have  you 
ever  seen  him  V I asked.  ‘ Very  frequently,’  was  the  reply. 

4 That’s  lucky;  do  point  the  ogre  out  to  me  if  you  see  him  near 
us  ?’  4 1 don’t  see  him,  but  you  may  if  you  look  at  me  ; I am  the 

editor  of  the  Herald .’  ” 

The  acquaintance  thus  formed  with  Mr.  Bennett  lasted 
until  the  death  of  the  founder  of  the  New  York  Herald. 
He  it  was  who  gave  Mr.  Wikoff  the  name  of  “ Chevalier,” 
which  clung  to  him  as  long  as  he  lived. 

One  of  the  remarkable  episodes  of  WikofEs  career  was 
the  manner  in  which  he  introduced  to  the  American  people 
the  celebrated  danseuse,  Fanny  Ellsler.  Her  enthusiastic 
reception  at  the  Park  Theatre,  in  New  York,  in  1840,  and 
the  way  she  turned  the  heads  of  theater-goers  throughout 
the  United  States,  is  a matter  of  history  well  remembered 
by  some  of  my  readers.* 

* Simultaneously  with  the  news  of  the  death  of  Chevalier  Wik- 
off (May,  1884),  the  cable  brings  information  that  Fanny  Ellsler  is 
dying. 


CHEVALIER  WIKOFE. 


373 


Even  the  late  Charles  Sumner  was  among  her  captives, 
judging  from  the  following  letter  : 

“4  Court  St.,  Boston  October  11,  1834. 

“My  dear  Wikoff: 

“ Stern  business  (may  I use  that  word  in  writing  to  you  ?)  pre- 
vented my  seeding  a line  at  Niagara,  and  I now  scrawl  away  hop- 
ing this  will  meet  you  on  your  arrival  in  New  York  with  your 
fair  charge.  I know  nothing  more  of  theatricals.  Forrest  is  still 
here,  but  since  Mile.  Fanny’s  last  night  I have  not  entered  the 
house,  and  shall  not  again  until  she  returns.  Otis  is  well,  but  re- 
fuses to  be  comforted  ; he  still  thinks  of  Paris,  and  of  her  who 
brought  Paris  so  vividly  to  the  minds  of  us  all 

“In  her  last  letter  Mrs.  Grote  complains  of  Fanny’s  determina- 
tion to  prolong  her  stay  here,  says  she  has  lost  her  head  and  that 
her  splendid  Parisian  throne  is  tottering  to  its  fall.  I do  not  be- 
lieve this 

“ What  are  your  plans  ? Do  you  go  to  Havana  ? In  that  case  I 
will  introduce  you  to  my  friend  Osgood  the  artist,  whose  reputa- 
tion you  know.  He  wishes  to  paint  Mile.  Fanny,  and  if  you  can 
prevail  upon  her  to  sit,  you  will  much  oblige  him  as  well  as  my- 
self. 

“Remember  me  most  cordially  to  Mademoiselle  and  to  her 
cousin : and  believe  me  faithfully  yours  and  theirs, 

“ Charles  Sumner.” 

The  Chevalier  was  fond  of  recounting  his  relations 
with  Napoleon  III.,  wrhom  he  greatly  admired.  He  aided 
him  in  his  escape  from  the  prison  of  Ham,  when  he  was 
only  Prince  Louis  Napoleon.  He  became  afterwards  on 
intimate  terms  with  the  ruler  of  France,  at  which  time  he 
wrote  the  biography  of  the  Emperor. 

In  the  year  1854  a stately-looking  gentleman  called  at 
my  office  in  Nassau  Street,  and  after  stating  his  name  and 
his  errand,  I became  aware  that  the  celebrated  Chevalier 
Wikoff  was  before  me.  It  was  not  long  before  we  came  to 
terms  for  the  publication  of  “ My  Courtship  and  its  Conse- 
quences/’ as  will  be  apparent  from  the  following  statement, 
wrhich  wras  incorporated  in  the  text  of  the  book  : 


374 


CHEVALIER  WIKOFF. 


“ On  my  arrival  in  New  York  my  former  comrades  of  the  press 
were  right  cordial  in  their  printed  salutation,  and  the  news  no 
sooner  circulated  that  I was  going  to  unfold  the  budget  of  my 
mishaps,  then  I found  myself  the  sought-for  of  publishers. 

“1  thought  perchance  the  ticklish  nature  of  my  book  might 
compel  me  to  take  up  with  a second-class  man,  but  such  is  the 
hot  competition  now  to  publish  anything  likely  to  sell,  that  I 
found  no  difficulty  in  making  my  choice.  Whilst  still  undecided, 
my  eye  tell  upon  a book  advertisement  in  one  of  the  newspapers 
that  was  so  ingeniously  done  that  my  mind  was  made  up  on  the 
spot. 

“ J.  C.  Derby  is  the  publisher  for  me,  and  I inquired  after  his 
character  forthwith.  He  was  all  my  fancy  painted  him,  and  liberal 
besides,  for  he  made  no  difficulty  about  the  terms,  and  our  bargain 
was  made  in  a trice.  He  turned  me  over  at  once  to  his  nimble- 
handed printers,  who  began  to  “set  me  up”  at  the  rate  of  forty 
pages  a day  in  spite  of  all  his  other  books  on  hand.” 


The  volume  had  an  extraordinary  sale  ; advance  orders 
numbering  many  thousand  copies  came  pouring  in. 

After  the  publication  of  the  book,  an  action  was 
brought  against  me  for  libel  by  Miss  Gamble’s  courier 
Louis  for  aspersions  on  his  character  in  the  book,  damages 
being  laid  at  ten  thousand  dollars.  It  was  tried  before  a 
court  and  the  jury  found  for  the  defendant. 

Mr.  Wikolf  then  threatened  to  sue  Thurlow  Weed,  but 
after  some  explanations  such  action  was  abandoned.  Mr. 
Weed  wrote  Mr.  Wikoff,  December  12th,  1854,  as  follows: 

“ Miss  Gamble  in  her  conversation  with  me  seemed  frank,  un- 
reserved and  sincere,  and  I certainly  left  her  with  a strong  belief 
in  the  truthfulness  of  her  statements.  The  accusation  which  you 
regard  as  most  injurious  to  your  reputation  and  that  which  you 
are  most  anxious  to  repel,  is  the  alleged  attempt  to  use  chloroform 
while  Miss  Gamble  avus  in  your  apartment  at  Genoa.  My  recollec- 
tion is,  that  Miss  Gamble  informed  me  that  after  having  made  a 
feint  of  applying  chloroform,  you  threatened  if  driven  by  her  re- 
fusals to  extremity  that  you  would  use  it  in  earnest.  You  informed 
me  that  Miss  Gamble  denied  having  made  this  statement.  If  to 


CHEVALIER  WIKOFF. 


375 


your  denial  of  this  accusation  hers  is  superadded,  I am  bound  to 
believe  that  I misunderstood  her  in  that  particular.  You  deny  also 
that  you  followed  Miss  Gamble  from  Turin  to  Genoa,  having 
arranged  with  her  courier  to  delay  her  journey.  This  conflicts 
with  Miss  Gamble’s  statement.  I only  know  that  I gave  the  cir- 
cumstances substantially  as  I received  them  from  that  lady,  who  I 
am  persuaded  was  sincere  in  her  belief  of  their  truth. 

“ Respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

Thurlow  Weed.” 

To  those  of  my  readers  who  are  not  familiar  with  Mr. 
Wikoff’s  relations  with  Miss  Gamble,  the  following  brief 
synopsis  of  his  arrest  and  imprisonment  will  prove  of 
interest.  In  the  year  1852,  Henry  Wikoff  was  arraigned 
at  Genoa,  Italy,  charged  with  the  abduction  of  his 
fiancee,  Miss  Jane  C.  Gamble,  whom  he  had  known  for  some 
years  previous.  In  1850,  he  went  to  London,  resuming  a 
friendship  with  her  which  on  account  of  his  long  absence 
abroad  had  to  a certain  degree  become  broken.  Falling 
deeply  in  love,  he  followed  her  wherever  she  went,  and  his 
affection  and  suit  were  agreeable,  it  seems,  as  she  promised 
to  become  his  wife,  even  naming  the  day  for  their  marriage  ; 
but  as  the  time  approached  she  offered  excuses  without 
number,  for  further  postponement,  which  action  vexed  the 
Chevalier  to  such  an  extent  that  he  became  desperate,  and 
determined  to  make  her  do  as  he  wished.  Being  foiled  so 
much,  he  had  at  last  availed  himself  of  an  opportunity  to 
induce  her,  with  her  maid  and  courier,  to  enter  his  apart- 
ments at  Genoa,  where  he  exacted  a promise  in  writing  that 
she  would  marry  him  at  a certain  time,  which  was  agreed 
upon,  and  the  day  named  for  the  wedding.  Their  parting 
after  this  agreement  was  made,  was  pleasant  apparently, 
and  all  things  seemed  well,  but  the  following  day  Miss 
Gamble  applied  to  the  British  consul  preferring  a charge 
of  abduction  against  the  Chevalier.  Mr.  Wikoff  treated 
the  matter  as  a joke,  and  appealed  to  the  American  consul, 
who  offered  him  his  sympathy  and  protection.  However, 


376 


CHEVALIER  WIKOFF. 


after  a lengthy  trial  he  was  found  guilty,  and  was  im- 
prisoned for  fifteen  months. 

Mr.  Wikoff  last  visited  this  country  in  1880.  I was  then 
connected  with  the  house  of  D.  Appleton  & Co.,  to  whom 
he  submitted  the  manuscript  of  his  “Reminiscences  of  an 
Idler.”  Although  an  entertaining  work  it  was  incomplete, 
coming  down  only  to  the  year  1840,  and  therefore  the  firm 
declined  to  publish  it.  It  was  subsequently  published  by 
Fords,  Howard  & Hulbert,  of  Hew  York. 

I saw  the  Chevalier  frequently  on  this  last  visit,  and  al- 
though he  looked  much  older  than  when  I first  met  him,  he 
was  well  preserved  in  his  personal  appearance.  He  would 
never  tell  his  age.  I have  learned  since  his  death  that  at 
the  time  of  his  last  illness  he  was  finishing  another  volume, 
bringing  down  his  career  forty  years  later.  Mr.  Wikoff 
died  of  paralysis  at  Brighton,  England,  on  May  3d.  1884. 


XXI. 


G.  & C.  MERRIAM  & CO. 

First  meets  Merriam  forty  years  ago — George  Merriam 
surprises  the  author — A great  undertaking — Well  ad- 
vertised— Get  the  Best — Three  thousand  engravings 
added — Untold  number  of  copies  sold- — Busy  fingers  of 
girls , women  and  men — George  Merriam  visits  negro 
schools  and  churches — “ Do  it  noio,”  “ Done  it  now,” 
uDo  it  yesterday” — A good  man  dies — Present  members 
of  the  firm — Splendid  Summary  of  the  Unabridged. 

TT  is  just  forty  years  ago  since  I first  visited  Springfield, 
Massachusetts,  to  purchase  for  my  Auburn  book  store 
from  G.  & C.  Merriam,  a supply  of  “ Chi  tty  Pleadings,” 
and  other  law  books  then  published  by  them.  It  was  then 
I learned  for  the  first  time  that  they  had  just  purchased 
from  J.  S.  & C.  Adams,  publishers,  at  Amherst,  the  copy- 
right of  Noah  Webster’s  Dictionary,  which  had  been  sold 
them  by  Governor  Ellsworth,  a son-in-law  of  and  executor 
of  Dr.  Webster. 

Mr.  George  Merriam  informed  me,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  visit  referred  to,  something  of  the  plans  which  his  firm 
had  in  view,  to  enlarge  and  improve  the  great  work  of 
which  they  had  become  the  sole  possessors. 

I heard  nothing  more  of  this  enterprise  until  three  years 
later,  when  the  public  was  treated  to  the  first  edition  of 
Webster’s  Unabridged  Dictionary  in  one  large  quarto 
volume. 

The  Messrs.  Merriam  had  secured  the  services  at  the 

[377] 


378 


G.  & C.  MEERIAM  & CO. 


outset,  of  Professor  Chauncey  A.  Goodrich,  of  Yale  Col- 
lege, another  son-in-law  of  Dr.  Webster,  who  being 
acquainted  with  the  plans  of  the  latter,  was  well  equipped 
for  the  work.  He  continued  to  edit  the  successive  editions 
up  to  the  time  of  his  death  in  1860. 

During  the  last  quarter  of  a century  the  whole  reading 
world,  wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken,  has  been 
familiar  with  the  well  advertised  Webster's  Unabridged 
Dictionary,  and  the  familiar  apothegm  “ Get  the  best." 

The  publishers  wrere  willing  to  leave  the  decision  to 
others  to  say  which  was  the  best  Dictionary,  but  they  did 
not  fail  to  make  it  apparent  which  was  the  best,  by  any 
lack  of  abundant  use  of  printer's  ink  in  the  way  of  adver- 
tising the  pre-eminent  qualities  of  this  great  work. 

A thoroughly  revised  and  re-constructed  edition,  under 
the  supervision  of  President  Porter,  of  Yale  College,  was 
brought  out  in  1 864,  and  within  a few  years  the  publishers 
have  greatly  added  to  the  value  of  the  work,  not  only  by  a 
supplement  of  nearly  5,000  new  words  and  their  definition, 
wrords  which  have  come  into  use  within  the  past  fifteen 
years,  but  also  3,000  engravings  and  illustrations  of  the 
meaning  of  the  words  ; in  addition  to  this  a biographical 
dictionary  of  nearly  10,000  world-renowned  people. 

It  would  be  an  interesting  item  to  the  public  if  they 
could  know  the  number  of  copies  sold  of  “Webster's  Un- 
abridged." It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  magnitude  of  its  sale 
reaches  far  beyond  that  of  any  other  book  ever  published 
in  any  country  in  the  civilized  world,  of  the  same  price. 
By  the  official  action  of  the  officers  of  the  public  schools 
over  32,000  copies  of  “ Webster's  Unabridged"  have  been 
placed  for  the  use  of  teachers  and  scholars. 

The  dictionary  is  manufactured  at  the  celebrated  River- 
side Press,  Cambridge,  by  H.  O.  Houghton  & Co.,  whose 
facilities  for  turning  out  the  best  of  printing  and  binding 
are  unequaled.  It  is  a sight  to  behold  the  busy  fingers  of 
the  girls,  women  and  men  that  are  employed  in  the  manu- 
facture of  this  book  alone. 


G.  & C.  MERRIAM  & CO. 


379 


The  editors  since  Professor  Goodrich’s  death  have  been 
President  Porter,  of  Yale,  Dr.  Webster’s  son,  W.  G. 
Webster,  and  other  efficient  scholars. 

Probably  the  cost  of  producing  “ Webster’s  Un- 
abridged ” is  greater  than  that  of  any  other  book  ever  pub- 
lished in  this  country — Appleton’s  “American  Cyclo- 
paedia” alone  excepted. 

I had  met  Mr.  George  Merriam  occasionally  since  the 
time  of  my  first  acquaintance  with  him,  and  always  found 
him  the  same  modest,  practical,  unassuming  man. 

The  last  time  that  I saw  him  was  at  Aiken,  S.  C.,  where 
he  and  the  late  Catherine  Beecher  were  studying  a plan  to 
ameliorate  and  improve  the  condition  of  the  colored  people, 
who  had  so  recently  emerged  from  bondage  into  freedom, 
by  education  and  other  means.  While  there  we  attended 
the  negro  churches  and  some  negro  schools,  the  buildings 
were  of  logs,  erected  by  carpenters  of  their  own  race.  Mr. 
Merriam  was  much  interested  in  the  simple  but  excitable 
worshippers ; and  specially  in  their  hymns — many  of  which 
were  improvised  as  they  sang.  Webster’s  Spelling-book 
with  its  blue  cover  was  eagerly  studied  by  all  sexes  and 
ages  of  the  colored  people. 

Mr.  Merriam  was  noted  for  his  charity  and  philanthropy, 
although  he  took  good  care  that  his  left  hand  should  not 
know  what  his  right  hand  did.  He  was  very  quick  in  all 
his  business  methods,  one  of  his  favorite  customs  was  to 
keep  a placard  over  his  desk,  reading  as  follows,  “Doit 
now .” 

A worthy  Quaker  once  wrote,  “ I expect  to  pass  through 
this  world  but  once,  if  therefore  there  be  any  kindness  I 
can  show,  or  any  good  thing  I can  do  to  my  fellow  human 
beings  let  me  do  it  now  ; let  me  not  defer  nor  neglect  it, 
for  I shall  not  pass  this  way  again.”  This  motto  of  “ Do 
it  now,”  was  a fitting  supplement  to  “ Get  the  best.”  Both 
had  become  so  habitual  in  Mr.  Merriam’s  daily  life  that  his 
friends  frequently  laughingly  said  to  him  that  the  words  ex- 
pressed nothing  new,  that  he  had  always  “Done  it  now,” 


380 


G.  & C.  MEERIAM  & CO. 


and  the  only  opportunity  left  for  him  was  to  make  it  read, 
“ Do  it  yesterday.” 

Mr.  Merriam  died  on  the  2nd  of  June,  1880,  in  the  78th 
year  of  his  age,  greatly  mourned  by  the  citizens  of  Spring- 
field,  of  every  rank  and  all  ages,  by  his  neighbors  and 
friends,  and  everywhere,  with  sincere  regret  by  those  who 
knew  the  man.  Surely  there  could  have  been  no  purer, 
more  upright  or  useful  life,  than  that  which  closed  when 
George  Merriam  died. 

His  surviving  brothers  Charles  and  Homer  (the  latter 
with  whom  I had  pleasant  business  relations  many  years 
ago,  when  he  was  a bookseller  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  under  the 
firm  of  Merriam,  Moore  & Co.),  associated  with  themselves 
in  March,  1882,  as  partners,  Orlando  M.  Baker  and  H. 
Curtis  Rowley,  two  gentlemen  who  had  for  years  been  con- 
nected with  the  business. 

The  style  of  the  new  firm  which  has  been  known  half  a 
century  as  G.  & C.  Merriam,  became  G.  & C.  Merriam  & 
Co.  Mr.  Baker  and  Mr.  Rowley  are  both  well-known  to 
the  leading  booksellers  throughout  the  country  by  their 
intelligent  and  gentlemanly  business  methods.  They  are  a 
most  valuable  acquisition  to  the  house  in  the  management 
of  the  giant  interests  which  one  book  entails. 

The  following  summary  of  Webster's  Unabridged  from 
a leading  Southern  journalist  well  expresses  the  views  of 
the  general  public. 

“The  derivations  and  synonyms,  the  rules  for  and  treatises 
upon  orthography,  etymology  and  orthoepy,  afford  boundless 
facilities  for  self-instruction,  and  the  youth  who  is  denied  scholas- 
tic tuition  may  pursue  his  studies  alone.  Through  it  he  has  a 
comprehensive  insight  into  the  science  of  our  language  and  in  it  a 
lexicon  of  all  that  appertains  to  other  sciences.  Three  thousand 
pictorial  engravings  supplement  worded  definitions  of  terms. 
Several  hundred  quotations  of  words  and  phrases  from  the  Greek, 
Latin,  and  modern  foreign  languages,  popular  in  English  com- 
position, with  their  translations  into  English,  form  a part  of  an 
appendage  to  the  body  of  the  work.  Illustrative  quotations  from 


G.  & C.  MERRIAM  & CO. 


381 


philosopher  and  poet  lend  a literary  charm  to  almost  every  page. 
It  is  an  intellectual  store-house  filled  with  the  artistic,  scientific, 
historic,  and  legendary  lore  of  every  age  and  country,  convenient 
in  arrangement,  and  terse  in  condensation.  It  represents  a cen- 
tury of  research,  careful  thought,  and  painstaking  compilation  on 
the  part  of  eminent  philologists,  aided  by  linguists,  and  men  of 
letters  in  every  leading  profession  and  of  both  English  and  foreign 
tongue.” 

The  publication  of  Webster’s  Unabridged  in  popular 
form,  and  its  consequent  large  circulation,  seemed  to  give 
a new  impulse  to  linguistic  studies,  and  from  the  time  the 
Merriams  became  the  proprietors  of  the  book,  it  has  been 
their  steady  aim  to  keep  the  successive  editions  fully  up  to 
the  times  by  the  use  of  the  constantly  increasing  facilities 
for  improving  such  a work,  regarding  their  efforts  in  its 
perfection,  publication  and  success  as  the  great  and  crown- 
ing work  of  their  lives,  and  their  monument  in  the  future, 
and  desiring  so  to  sustain  their  own  motto,  that  whoever 
should  procure  a copy  of  Webster  might  “ get  the  best.” 


XXII. 


J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT. 


Early  Business  Experience — Buys  out  Grigg  & Elliott— - 
Important  Publications — Pronouncing  Gazetteer  of  the 
World — Secures  Publication  of  Prescott’s  Works — 
Angry  War  Threats  of  Southerners — Lippincott’s  long 
lookahead — Builds  Spacious  New  Quarters — Allibone’s 
Dictionary  of  Authors — Discovers  (i  Ouida”  to  be  a 
Woman — “ Held  in  Bondage  ” — Prefers  Thackeray’s 
ivritings  to  all  others — Mr.  Lippincott  a good  traveler. 


OSHUA  B.  LIPPINCOTT,  like  the  founders  of  other 


^ large  book-publishing  concerns,  began  business  in  a 
small  way.  At  fourteen  years  of  age  he  became  a clerk  in 
a Philadelphia  book-store,  where  he  remained  four  years, 
when  the  proprietor,  having  met  with  business  embarrass- 
ments, was  sold  out  by  his  creditors,  who  bought  the  pro- 
perty for  themselves,  and  young  Lippincott,  then  eighteen 
years  of  age,  was  placed  in  charge.  This  business  he  con- 
ducted until  1836,  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  owners, 
when  he  began  on  his  own  account  (with  capital  saved  from 
his  earnings),  under  the  style  of  J.  B.  Lippincott  & Co. 

The  first  publications  bearing  the  imprint  of  the  new 
firm  appeared  in  that  year.  Prayer-books  and  Bibles  were 
made  their  specialty — Mr.  Lippincott,  who  possessed  an 
intuitive  taste  for  the  elegant  bindings  which  afterwards 
made  his  books  so  famous  among  booksellers,  giving  special 
attention  to  the  manufacturing  department. 

Probably  the  most  important  event  in  Mr.  Lippincott's 


[3821 


JOSHUA  B.  LirPINCOTT. 


383 


business  career  was  liis  purchase  in  1850,  of  the  entire 
stock  of  books  and  stationery  of  Grigg  & Elliott,  who  were 
at  that  time  by  far  the  largest  wholesale  dealers  in  that 
line  in  America.  This  purchase  was  contrary  to  the  advice 
of  his  friends  ; but,  as  the  capital  which  he  had  already 
accumulated  was  ample  for  the  purpose,  he  determined  to 
follow  the  dictates  of  his  own  judgment  and  make  the  in- 
vestment, believing  that  the  business  thus  acquired,  com- 
bined with  his  own,  might  be  made  the  germ  of  a publish- 
ing house  that  would  have  few  rivals. 

The  book-publishing  business  in  Philadelphia  was  at 
this  time  at  a low  ebb,  but  the  issues  of  Messrs.  J.  B. 
Lippincott  & Co.  had  for  some  years  attracted  marked 
attention  on  account  of  their  superior  mechanical  execu- 
tion, and,  the  new  organization  affording  Mr.  Lippincott 
additional  facilities  for  the  exercise  of  his  peculiar  abilities 
as  a publisher,  that  department  of  the  business  grew  apace. 

Several  important  government  works  were  intrusted  to 
him  for  execution — notably,  Schoolcraft's  History  of  the 
Indian  Tribes,  in  six  folio  volumes  (the  cost  of  which  was 
nearly  one  hundred  thousand  dollars) — and  standard  works 
and  novels  followed  each  other  in  rapid  succession  through 
the  Lippincott  press.  An  interest  in  the  Webster  series 
of  Dictionaries  (afterwards  transferred  to  the  Messrs. 
Merriam,  of  Springfield)  was  purchased  by  him  ; and 
among  his  important  publications  of  that  day  was  his 
“Pronouncing  Gazetteer  of  the  World,"  which  was  pub- 
lished at  a cost  of  some  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  is  yet 
without  any  formidable  rival. 

The  failure  in  1857  of  Messrs.  Phillips,  Sampson  & Co., 
of  Boston,  who  up  to  that  time  had  been  the  publishers  of 
Prescott's  Historical  Works  (in  15  volumes),  threw  open 
to  the  competition  of  different  houses  an  opportunity  to 
arrange  for  the  future  publication  of  those  works.  By  the 
original  contract  with  Phillips,  Sampson  & Co.,  Mr.  Pres- 
cott received  a copyright  of  fifty  cents  per  volume,  and 
other  Boston  houses  were  ready  to  enter  into  a similar 


384 


JOSHUA  B.  LIPPINCOTT. 


arrangement.  Furthermore,  a strong  local  influence  favored 
the  retention  of  the  works  in  Boston,  but  the  bid  of  a bonus 
of  five  thousand  dollars  and  a guaranteed  copyright  of  six 
thousand  dollars  per  annum  secured  to  Mr.  Lippincott  the 
publication  of  these  important  works,  the  entire  copyright 
and  plates  of  which  subsequently,  by  actual  purchase  from 
Mr.  Prescott's  heirs,  became  his  property.  Later  a new 
edition,  with  new  stereotype  plates,  revised  by  Mr.  J.  Foster 
Kirk,  Prescott's  former  secretary,  and  the  author  of  the 
“ Life  of  Charles  the  Bold,  Duke  of  Burgundy"  (also  one 
of  the  important  publications  of  this  house),  was  issued  by 
J.  B.  Lippincott  & Co. 

An  incident  connected  with  the  negotiations  for  the 
publication  of  Prescott's  works  is  worthy  of  recall.  It  was 
just  prior  to  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war.  The  con- 
servative semi-neutral  atmosphere  of  Philadelphia  rendered 
that  city  the  favorite  purchasing  place  for  the  merchants 
of  the  South,  whose  twelve-month  promissory  notes  were 
there  freely  received  in  exchange  for  the  products  of  the 
North.  Few  had  heard  more  of  the  angry  war-threats  of 
the  Southerners — both  of  the  mercantile  and  of  the  profes- 
sional classes — than  had  Mr.  Lippincott,  through  whose 
establishment  (then  the  principal  entrepot  for  all  kinds  of 
books  used  in  the  South)  had  for  months  been  pouring 
into  the  Southern  States  large  quantities  of  the  literary 
mat'eriel  of  war,  “ Tactics  " for  infantry  and  cavalry,  Trea- 
tises on  Ordnance,  &c.,  &c.,  and,  in  short,  great  numbers 
of  books  of  a warlike  character.  Keenly  apprehensive  of 
the  impending  danger,  he  suggested  to  Mr.  Prescott's  execu- 
tors that  a condition  ought  to  be  inserted  in  the  contract 
by  which  that  instrument  should  be  annulled  in  case  of  a 
civil  war.  This  was  considered  so  ridiculously  improbable 
by  the  cool-headed  Bostonians  that  one  of  them  at  least 
utterly  refused  to  sign  a contract  with  such  a stipulation  ; 
but,  in  deference  to  Mr.  Lippincott's  wishes,  they  consented 
to  a verbal  understanding  that  in  case  of  war  the  contract 
should  be  annulled  or  modified — an  understanding  that  was 


JOSHUA  B.  LIPPINCOTT. 


385 


honorably  acknowledged  when  that  calamity  broke  upon 
the  country. 

Meanwhile,  the  rapidly  expanding  business  of  the  house 
had  quite  outgrown  the  capacity  of  the  original  premises, 
and  in  1861  Mr.  Lippincott  commenced  The  erection  of  his 
present  spacious  establishment,  at  Nos.  715  and  717  Market 
Street,  which,  with  its  front  of  about  fifty  feet,  five  stories 
high, — expanding  in  the  printing-office  and  bindery  to  a 
frontage  on  Filbert  Street  of  seventy-five  feet,  six  stories  in 
height, — the  whole  having  a total  depth  of  nearly  four 
hundred  feet,  is  probably  the  largest  book-publishing  and 
vending  house  in  the  world. 

Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  issue  of  Lippin- 
cott’s  Pronouncing  Gazetteer  of  the  World ; and  it  is 
worthy  of  note  that  scarcely  w’as  that  work  published  ere 
the  distinguished  editor,  Dr.  Joseph  Thomas,  armed  with 
funds  advanced  by  Mr.  Lippincott,  was  en  route  for  a two 
years*  sojourn  in  Oriental  countries,  the  object  being  the 
construction  of  a Biographical  Dictionary  that  should  hold 
the  same  relation  to  its  department  of  knowledge  as  that 
held  by  the  Gazatteer  to  the  geography  of  the  world.  The 
result  of  the  enterprise  was  the  issue,  in  due  time,  of  Lip- 
pincott’s  Pronouncing  Dictionary  of  Biography  and  My- 
thology, a ponderous  royal  octavo  volume  of  over  two 
thousand  three  hundred  pages. 

Among  the  other  prominent  works  that  may  be  found 
cn  the  extensive  catalogue  of  J.  B.  Lippincott  & Co’s 
publications,  are  Allibone’s  Dictionary  of  English  Literature 
and  British  and  American  Authors,  in  three  closely-printed 
octavo  volumes,  which  aims  to  furnish  the  reader  with  in- 
formation concerning  all  writers  of  books  in  the  English 
language,  with  a critical  account  of  their  works  ; a treatise 
on  “ The  Principles  and  Practice  of  Surgery,”  in  three 
large  volumes,  by  D.  Hayes  Agnew,  M.D.,  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  surgeons  of  America;  “Chambers’  Encyclo- 
paedia,” in  ten  volumes,  aptly  termed  in  its  sub-title  “ A 
Dictionary  of  Universal  Knowledge  for  the  People the 


386 


JOSHUA  B.  LIPPINCOTT. 


“ United  States  Dispensatory”  (now  in  its  fifteenth  edition), 
of  which  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  copies  have  been 
sold ; a fine  edition  of  Bulwer’s  Novels,  in  forty-seven 
volumes  ; the  complete  series  of  Worcester’s  Dictionaries, 
long  and  favorably  known  to  the  scholars  of  the  country, 
and  of  late  rapidly  growing  into  popularity  ; an  edition  of 
Scott’s  Waverley  Novels  ; the  romances  of  Miss  de  la  Kame, 
better  known  by  her  non  de  plume  of  “ Ouida,”  etc.,  etc. 

The  manner  of  the  introduction  of  the  last-named  author 
to  the  American  public  is  not  without  interest.  Sometime 
prior  to  or  early  in  the  war,  when  relations  between  the 
business  houses  of  England  and  America  were  much  less 
intimate  than  at  present,  Mr.  Lippincott  happened  to  meet 
in  an  English  magazine  a serial  story  bearing  the  nom  de 
plume  of  “ Ouida.”  This  immediately  attracted  his  atten- 
tion, and  a perusal  of  such  portions  of  the  story  as  were 
accessible  convinced  him  that  the  author  possessed  more 
than  ordinary  abilities  as  a writer,  and  he  decided  to  an- 
nounce it  for  republication  for  the  American  market.  This 
was  in  the  good  old  days  when  there  existed  a certain 
courtesy  in  the  trade  by  which  a simple  announcement  by 
one  publisher  of  his  intention  to  reissue  a foreign  work  in 
this  country  was  recognized  as  conferring  a trade-right  to 
that  work,  which  other  publishers  were  in  honor  bound  to 
respect.  A business  question,  however,  arose  in  making 
the  announcement.  In  the  magazine  the  story  bore  the  title 
“ Held  in  Bondage ; or,  Granville  de  Vigne  and  it  oc- 
curred to  Mr.  Lippincott  that  any  work  popularly  known 
under  the  title  “ Held  in  Bondage”  would  immediately  be 
classed  as  but  another  of  the  many  works  on  American 
slavery  with  which  the  public  were  then  being  surfeited. 
Still,  some  respect  must  be  had  for  the  presumed  preference 
of  the  unknown  author  for  the  name  already  adopted,  and, 
furthermore,  the  announcement  must  be  so  far  identified 
with  the  story  as  to  prevent  other  houses  from  undertaking 
a rival  edition.  This  was  accomplished  by  reversing  the 
order  of  the  different  parts  of  the  title,  an  arrangement 


JOSHUA  B.  LIPPINCOTT. 


387 


which  was  afterwards  sanctioned  by  the  author,  and  the 
story  appeared  from  the  Lippincott  press  as  “ Granville  de 
Yigne ; or.  Held  in  Bondage."  Prior  to  that  time  the 
author  had  been  known — when  known  at  all — only  as  a 
writer  for  magazines , none  of  her  stories  having  been  pub- 
lished in  book  form,  and  when  Mr.  Lippincott’s  announce- 
ment came  to  her  knowledge,  she  addressed  him  a letter 
expressing  her  surprise  and  gratification  thereat.  Nothing, 
however,  in  the  characteristics  of  her  communication — 
either  the  literary  style  or  its  penmanship — revealed  the 
sex  of  the  writer ; and  Mr.  Lippincott,  in  common,  as  it 
afterwards  appeared,  with  all  admirers  of  Ouida’s  writings, 
classed  her  among  the  sterner  sex.  A pleasant  correspond- 
ence, therefore,  ensued  between  the  firm  and  “ L.  de  la 
Bame,  Esq.,"  (!)  and  it  was  not  until  Mr.  Lippincott’s  sub- 
sequent visit  to  Europe  that  he  was  informed,  and  by  the 
publishers  of  the  magazine  to  which  she  was  a contributor, 
that  his  correspondent  was  a lady. 

Prior  to  the  civil  war  the  business  of  J.  B.  Lippincott 
& Co.  lay  mostly  south  of  “Mason  and  Dixon’s  line;" 
their  sales  were  made  upon  long  credits,  and  consequently 
the  breaking  out  of  hostilities  in  1861  rendered  debts  due 
the  firm  amounting  to  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars 
entirely  uncollectible.  Fortunately,  taught  by  the  experi- 
ences of  1857,  when  many  of  the  strongest  houses  of  the 
country  suffered  a financial  collapse,  Mr.  Lippincott  had 
in  the  interim  been  accustomed  to  make  his  purchases  for 
cash,  and  the  crisis  incident  to  the  inaugration  of  the  war 
found  him  fully  prepared  to  meet  all  its  attendant  exigen- 
cies. Adapting  with  wonderful  alacrity  the  business  of 
the  house  to  the  new  condition  of  things,  the  firm  then 
entered  upon  a career  of  prosperity  that  has  had  few  par- 
allels in  the  book-trade,  and  a brief  period  more  than 
sufficed  to  replace  the  losses  from  in  the  seceded  States. 

Especially  were  established  at  about,  that  time  those 
close  business  relations  with  foreign  publishers  that  have 
since  resulted  in  supplying  the  American  market  with  edi— 


388 


JOSHUA  B.  LirPINCOTT. 


tions  of  the  better  class  of  English  books,  among  which 
may  be  cited  the  elegant  issue  of  Dickens*  Works,  in  thirty 
volumes,  and  the  no  less  elegant  edition  of  Thackeray's 
Works,  in  twenty-two  volumes,  of  which  latter  the  value 
of  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  has  been  served  to 
the  American  public  from  this  house.  “ Of  all  modern 
novelists  of  note,"  says  Mr.  Lippincott,  te  I prefer  the  writ- 
ings of  Mr.  Thackeray,  and  in  my  judgment  his  works 
will  live  long  after  those  of  any  of  his  contemporaries." 

Several  visits  have  from  time  to  time  been  made  by  Mr. 
Lippincott  to  England  and  the  Continent  of  Europe,  one 
of  which  extended  to  St.  Petersburg,  Moscow,  and  Con- 
stantinople, another  to  Egypt  and  the  Holy  Land,  and  a 
third  to  the  Spanish  Peninsula,  etc.  To  his  intimate 
friends  it  is  known  that  the  same  tireless  activity  that 
characterizes  his  business  career,  marks  his  tours  of  obser- 
vation ; and  he  is  credited  with  a capacity  for  traveling 
farther  and  seeing  more,  in  a given  time,  than  falls  within 
the  power  of  many. 

Early  in  life  Mr.  Lippincott  married  Miss  Josephine 
Craige,  an  accomplished  lady  of  Philadelphia  ; and  three 
sons,  all  connected  with  him  in  business,  and  a daughter,  the 
wife  of  Mr.  J.  J.  Goodwin,  of  New  York,  constitute,  with  their 
children,  the  descendants  of  the  Philadelphia  publisbei. 

It  is  due  to  the  subject  of  this  sketch  to  add,  that  amid 
the  multiplicity  of  his  private  business  cares  he  has  found 
time  to  bestow  no  inconsiderable  attention  upon  matters  of 
a more  or  less  public  nature.  While  j^et  he  had  scarcely 
arrived  at  middle  life  he  was  elected  to  the  Board  of  Direc- 
tors of  the  Philadelphia  and  Beading  Kailroad,  and  subse- 
quently accepted  like  invitations  to  seats  in  the  director- 
ships of  the  Farmers*  and  Mechanics’  Bank  of  Philadel- 
phia, of  the  Philadelphia  Saving  Fund  Society,  and  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Company  for  Insurance  on  Lives  and  Grant- 
ing Annuities,  which  positions  he  has  held  since  his  first 
elections.  He  is  also  one  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
^University  of  Pennsylvania. 


XXIII. 


AUGUSTA  J.  EVANS  WILSON. 

A Young  Southern  Authoress — MS.  of  “ Beulah ” accepted 
— A Fiery  Young  Southerner — “ Didn't  I tell  you  so  ?” 
— Immense  Success  of  “ Beulah  ” — Macaria  appears 
in  War  Time — liberality  of  Lippincott — “A  Lady 
is  waiting  to  see  you ” — The  Author  agreeably  sur- 
prised— St.  Elmo — Vashti — Infelice — Nearly  $100,000 
Copyright — Ilappy  Home  in  Mobile — Woman  Suf- 
frage— Ilappy  Influence  other  Boohs. 

T N the  summer  of  1859,  a young  lady  of  pleasant  address 
and  marked  intelligence  called  at  my  office  in  Nassau 
Street,  and  said  she  had  a book  in  manuscript  which  she 
wished  to  submit  for  publication. 

After  she  was  seated,  I asked  her  what  kind  of  a book 
she  had  written.  She  replied  it  was  a novel,  and  that  the 
scene  was  laid  in  the  South,  where  she  resided.  I asked  if 
this  was  her  first  effort ; she  said  it  was  not,  that  the  Har- 
pers had  published  her  first  book,  which  was  called  “ Inez, 
a tale  of  the  Alamo,”  written  when  she  was  in  her  teens  and 
when  her  father  was  residing  in  Texas.  She  went  on  to 
say  that  the  result  of  her  first  effort  was  not  very  encourag- 
ing, as  the  sale  was  quite  limited.  But  she  was  not  dis- 
couraged, however,  as  she  was  dissatisfied  herself  with 
“Inez.”  She  now  thought  she  had  written  a story  which 
the  public  would  read,  if  she  could  find  a publisher.  She 
volunteered  the  information  that  the  book  had  been  offered 
elsewhere.  She  answered  very  frankly  that  she  had  sent  the 
manuscript  some  time  previous  from  Mobile,  to  the  Apple- 

[389] 


390 


AUGUSTA  J.  EVANS  WILSON. 


tons,  and,  calling  on  them,  learned  that  they  would  advise 
her  of  their  decision  as  soon  as  they  had  seen  their  reader. 
In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  the  manuscript  was 
returned  to  her  at  the  St.  Nicholas  Hotel,  with  a short 
note  declining  the  book.  I was  pleased  with  the  candid 
statements  of  the  young  author,  and  became  much  inter- 
ested in  her  conversation.  After  looking  over  the  manu- 
script I said  I would  take  it  to  my  home  and  submit  it  to 
some  of  the  members  of  the  family — which  I did,  two  of 
whom,  at  least,  read  it  besides  myself.  The  verdict  was 
unanimous  as  to  its  merit,  and  Derby  & Jackson  soon  ar- 
ranged for  the  publication  of  “ Beulah.” 

This  was  a quarter  of  a century  ago,  and  was  the  be- 
ginning of  an  eventful  and  prosperous  literary  career  of 
the  young  authoress  Augusta  J.  Evans. 

When  Miss  Evans  called  for  my  decision,  she  was  accom- 
panied by  her  cousin,  Colonel  John  W.  Jones,  of  Georgia, 
who  was  the  bearer  of  the  manuscript  at  the  first  interview. 
Colonel  Jones  was  a fiery  young  Southerner,  and  told  me 
afterwards  that  although  his  back  was  turned  while  exam- 
ining some  books  on  the  shelves,  he  had  listened  to  the 
conversation  and  began  to  think  by  my  tone  and  manner 
that  I also  would  reject  the  book,  and  in  case  I did,  he  in- 
tended to  hurl  one  of  my  own  publications  at  my  head ! 
Colonel  Jones  was  a most  estimable  man,  devotedly  attached 
to  his  cousin.  He  fell  at  the  head  of  his  regiment  at  the 
sanguinary  battle  of  Gettysburg,  fighting  for  the  cause 
which  both  of  them  believed  to  be  sacred. 

Soon  as  the  book  was  ready  for  publication,  we  sent 
advance  copies  to  the  leading  papers  for  review.  The  first 
notice  “Beulah”  received  was  from  a Baltimore  paper, 
which  contained  a severe  and  unjust  condemnation  of  the 
book.  The  notice  was  cut  out  of  the  paper  and  sent  to  me 
by  a member  of  the  firm  who  had  rejected  the  manuscript, 
and  who  knew  we  were  about  to  publish  the  book, — and 
also  that  I had  great  expectations  of  a sale, — with  a note, 
added  : “ Didn’t  I tell  you  so?” 


AUGUSTA  J.  EVANS  WILSON. 


391 


(I  learned  afterwards  that  the  notice  referred  to  was 
written  by  the  reader  who  had  recommended  the  rejection 
of  the  manuscript.) 

It  was  a curious  fact  that  when  the  book  began  to  sell 
largely,  the  same  publishing  house  ordered  as  many  as  one 
thousand  copies  of  “ Beulah”  at  one  time.  It  may  not  be 
out  of  place  to  say  here  that  publishers,  themselves,  espec- 
ially larger  houses,  as  a rule  seldom  read  manuscripts  offered 
them  for  publication  ; time,  and  possibly  their  tastes,  not 
permitting  them  to  do  so.  They  rely  greatly  on  their 
manuscript  readers,  who  are  usually  men  of  letters  or  of 
literary  instinct,  whose  opinion  enables  the  publisher  to 
decide. 

The  notices  and  reviews  of  “ Beulah,”  with  the  excep- 
tion referred  to,  were  nearly  all  favorable,  and  especially  by 
reviewers  who  read  the  book  and  understood  its  teachings. 

John  Wood  Davidson,  in  his  “ Living  Writers  of  the 
South,”  gives  a fair-minded  view  of  the  general  critical 
verdict  of  the  merits  of  Beulah,  as  follows  : 

“ The  heroine  is  an  intellectual  woman,  proud,  self-reliant,  am-" 
bitious,  skeptical  and  suffering.  False  pride  makes  her  unhappy 
and  keeps  her  so.  The  problem  of  the  soul  and  its  relations  to 
God  through  Christianity  are  discussed  with  a striking  boldness. 
Those  problems  of  psychology,  upon  which  so  much  is  thought 
and  so  little  said  by  every  thinking  person,  are  handled  with  very 
clever  skill;  and  something  of  pedantry  perhaps.  They  are  left, 
in  the  end,  just  where  rationalism  must,  if  ever,  leave  them — at  the 
gates  of  prayer.  Beulah  left  them  there  ; and  in  the  new  peace 
of  soul  becomes  a better  and  happier  woman.  The  book  was  free 
from  sentimentality — the  sentimentality  of  popular  novels — and 
this,  with  the  thinking,  told  in  its  favor.  Beulah  was  a success, 
and  deserved  to  be.” 

One  of  the  earliest  and  most  appreciative  of  the  notices 
received  was  from  the  New  York  Courier  and  Enquirer  ; 
it  was  written  by  Mr.  Spaulding,  then  one  of  the  assistant 
editors  of  that  paper.  He  became  so  much  interested  after 
reading  the  book,  that  he  called  personally  to  learn  the  ad- 


392 


AUGUSTA  J.  EVANS  WILSON. 


dress  of  the  author,  as  he  wished  to  express  to  her 
how  much  the  reading  of  “ Beulah  ” impressed  him ; that 
lie  believed  such  a work  was  called  for,  and  that  the  author 
had  happily  shown  the  way  from  Skepticism  to  Chris- 
tianity. 

I informed  him  that  the  author  in  question  was  then  a 
guest  at  my  house.  He  said  he  would  like  very  much  to 
meet  her  and  thank  her  in  person  for  the  benefit  that  he 
himself  had  received  by  reading  the  work.  Mr.  Spaulding 
called,  with  her  permission,  and  said  to  me  afterwards,  that 
it  was  evident  from  her  conversation  that  she  knew  what 
she  was  writing  about. 

Their  sentiments  were  in  entire  accord,  and  culminated 
in  a friendship  which  remained  unbroken  until  the  war 
broke  out.  He  died  soon  after  the  close  of  the  internecine 
strife.  The  following  notice  by  one  who  knew  him  well 
may  interest  my  readers  : 

“ The  first  editor  of  the  New  York  World,  which  was  started  as 
an  orthodox  religious  paper,  was  Mr.  Spaulding,  a grave,  taciturn 
man,  of  large  frame  and  powerful  intellect.  When  the  World  fell 
into  financial  straits  and  threw  religion  overboard,  about  1863, 
Mr.  Spaulding  took  a place  upon  the  editorial  staff  of  the  Times, 
under  Henry  J.  Raymond,  whose  first  assistant  I thenwTas;  and 
there  he  showed  himself  to  be  the  boldest  master  of  political 
invective  ever  known  on  the  American  press.  A man  of  great  soul 
aud  honest  purpose.” 

Early  in  the  year  1861  the  Civil  War  came  upon  us  with 
all  the  attending  troubles,  temporarily  suspending  the  pub- 
lication of  books  of  fiction.  Those  most  in  demand  outside 
of  school-books  were  infantry  and  cavalry  tactics  and  other 
treatises  on  War.  1 heard  occasionally  through  the  lines 
from  the  gifted  young  authorfess,  who  sent  me  in  1863,  by 
a blockade-runner,  via  Cuba,  a copy  of  her  novel  entitled 
“ Macaria,”  published  by  West  & Johnson,  then,  as  now, 
well-known  booksellers  in  Richmond,  Virginia.  The 
volume  was  printed  on  coarse  brown  paper,  the  copyright 


AUGUSTA  J.  EVANS  WILSON. 


393 


entered  according  to  the  Confederate  States  of  America , and 
dedicated  “to  the  brave  soldiers  of  the  Southern  Army." 
The  authoress  in  after  years  said  to  me,  referring  to  its  first 
publication  : “ It  is  impossible  for  me  to  say  what  I received 
for  ‘ Macaria,’ which  was  published  by  West  & Johnson, 
of  Richmond,  in  1864,  and  was  printed  by  Walker,  Evans 
& Cogswell,  of  Columbia.  When  Richmond  fell,  the  pub- 
lishers owed  me  a considerable  amount  in  Confederate 
money,  which  of  course  I never  received.  After  the  war 
I applied  for  a settlement.  They  stated  that  the  books  and 
accounts  had  been  destroyed,  or  were  so  confused  that  I could 
get  nothing ; hence  I lost  what  was  due.  Those  times  were  so 
dark  and  full  of  sorrow  that  I can  recall  none  of  the  finan- 
cial details,  but  I presume  West  & Johnson  were  too 
badly  crippled  to  pay  in  greenbacks  what  they  owTed  in 
Confederate  money.  Are  you  aware  that  ‘ Macaria  ’ was 
seized  and  destroyed  b}^  some  Federal  General  who 
commanded  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  and  who  burned 
all  the  copies — Confederate  edition — which  crossed  from 
rebeldom  ? The  book  was  dedicated  to  our  brave  Southern 
Army,  and  was  a great  favorite  in  camp  and  hospital;  and 
my  very  heart  heat  in  its  pages , coarse  and  brown  though 
the  dear  old  Confederate  paper  was.  Some  portions  of  it 
were  scribbled  in  pencil  while  sitting  up  with  the  sick 
soldiers  in  the  hospital  attached  to  ‘Camp  Beulah 3 near 
Mobile." 

On  receipt  of  the  copy  of  “Macaria,"  I called  upon  J. 
B.  Lippincott,  of  Philadelphia,  the  head  at  that  time,  as  he 
is  now,  of  the  largest  wholesale  book  establishment  in  the 
country,  whose  house  had  purchased  thousands  of  copies 
of  “ Beulah,"  and  arranged  for  the  publication  of  “ Ma- 
caria" in  uniform  style  with  the  former.  It  was  imme- 
diately announced  by  the  publishers  as  in  press,  when  to  the 
surprise  of  both  of  us,  one  Michael  Doolady,  who  had  re- 
ceived a copy  of  “ Macaria  " through  the  lines,  had  printed 
and  nearly  ready  for  publication  five'  thousand  copies  of  the 
same  work.  I called  upon  Doolady  and  asked  him  what 
17* 


394 


AUGUSTA  J.  EVANS  WILSON. 


copyright  he  intended  to  pay  the  author.  He  replied 
“ that  the  author  being  an  arch  rebel  was  not  entitled  to 
copyright  and  would  receive  none.”  I immediately  advised 
Mr.  Lippincott  of  the  situation.  He  came  on  from  Phila- 
delphia, and  called  with  me  on  Doolady,  and  expostulated 
with  him  upon  the  injustice  of  publishing  the  book  when 
Tie  had  already  engaged  by  contract  to  do  so.  It  was  finally 
settled  by  Doolady  agreeing  to  pay  a royalty  to  me  in  trust 
for  the  author  on  all  the  copies  sold,  in  consideration  of 
which  Mr.  Lippincott  withdrew  his  proposed  edition. 

The  author  of  “Macaria,”  pending  these  negotiations, 
was  of  course  in  blissful  ignorance  of  what  had  transpired, 
as  no  correspondence  had  passed  between  us  on  the  sub- 
ject. At  last  the  war  was  over.  Mobile  was  the  last  of 
the  cities  to  fall,  and  still  I heard  nothing  from  the 
young  authoress  with  whom  I became  acquainted  six 
years  previous  under  the  favorable  circumstances  already 
narrated. 

Late  in  the  Summer  of  1865,  while  sitting  in  my  private 
office,  then  in  Spruce  Street,  one  of  the  clerks  came  to  me 
and  said  “a  lady  is  waiting  to  see  you  at  the  door.”  She 
was  closely  veiled,  and  I did  not  readily  recognize  her.  She 
said  “Mr.  Derby,  do  you  not  know  me  ?”  Knowing  well 
the  familiar  voice,  I said,  “ Augusta  Evans,  is  that  you  ?” 

After  explaining  that  she  had  just  arrived  by  steamer 
from  Mobile,  and  expressions  of  mutual  gratification  at  see- 
ing each  other  again,  I said  that  Mrs.  Derby  was  very  anx- 
ious to  see  her,  and  she  must  go  at  once  to  our  home  in 
Forty-eighth  Street.  She  replied,  that  she  had  come  on 
with  one  of  her  brothers,  who  had  been  very  badly  wounded 
and  he  was  then  sitting  on  the  steps  outside.  I told  her 
he  would  find  an  excellent  nurse  in  my  wife.  Then,  notic- 
ing her  attire,  I suggested  that  a new  dress  and  a new  bon- 
net would  not  be  out  of  place.  The  styles  of  ladies’  wear- 
ing apparel  having  changed  since  we  last  saw  each  other. 

She  said,  “Mr.  Derby,  my  father  has  lost  everything; 
the  slaves  have  been  freed,  and  all  our  property  confiscated. 


AUGUSTA  J.  EVANS  WILSON. 


395 


I have  no  money  with  which  to  replenish  my  wardrobe.” 
I then  told  her  for  the  first  time  that  she  had  a considera- 
ble amount  subject  to  her  order,  for  copyright  received  on 
“ Macaria.” 

And  this  is  the  story  of  Macaria,”  and  how  it  came  to 
be  published  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

The  generosity  of  Mr.  Lippincott,  whose  position  enabled 
him  to  compel  a copyright  so  reluctantly  paid,  was  duly 
appreciated  by  the  author  of  “Macaria.”  She  once  wrote: 

“ I have  always  felt  profoundly  grateful  to  Mr.  Lippincott,  but 
fate  has  never  indulged  me  in  an  opportunity  of  adequately  thank- 
ing him  for  his  generous  and  chivalric  action,  in  behalf  of  an  un- 
known rebel,  who  at  that  period  was  nursing  Confederate  soldiers 
in  a hospital  established  near  ‘ Camp  Beulah.’  ” 

Although  “Macaria”  was  written  with  the  same  vigor 
and  spirit  as  its  predecessor,  the  painful  conditions  under 
which  it  was  accomplished  gave  it  a tinge  of  sorrow  and 
sadness,  which  was  not  found  in  “ Beulah.” 

Professor  Davidson’s  opinion  of  it  is  graphically  de- 
scribed, as  follows  : 

“The  story  of  Macaria  is  admirably  told,  and  I claim  the 
privilege  of  thanking  Miss  Evans  in  the  name  of  her  thousands  of 
admirers,  for  one  of  the  purest,  most  vigorous  and  striking  fictions 
that  we  have  had  since  ‘ No  Name  ’ by  Wilkie  Collins.  The 
scene  painting  is  in  the  highest  style  of  literary  art.  The  delinea- 
tions are  very  fine,  especially  the  female  characters,  which  stand 
out  like  classic  portraits.  The  style  is  elevated — a little  ambitious 
to  be  sure — but  vigorous  and  direct.  The  tone  is  purity  itself.  The 
pathos  is  the  strong  point  of  the  book. 

“ Throughout  the  book  the  allusions  are  very  numerous,  always 
appropriate,  and  often  very  striking  ; but  are  so  frequently  recon- 
dite that  the  reader  must  pause  a moment  to  recall  the  facts  re- 
ferred to.  In  a large  number  of  them,  the  original  facts  are  not 
known  to  the  mass  of  novel-readers  at  all,  so  that  the  whole  force 
of  the  allusion  is  lost  until  a cyclopedia  cau  be  referred  to.  This 
is  a grave  fault  in  a book  written  for  the  general  reader.  Most  of 
the  following  are  of  this  class — ‘The  Arabic  Alsirat;’  ‘The 


396 


AUGUSTA  J.  EVANS  WILSON. 


Cridavana  Meadows,’  ‘the  Seraphim  of  the  East,’  ‘the  Laba- 
ruin  of  Constantiue,’  ‘ the  fabled  Norse  Ragnarok,’  ‘ the  Min- 
gard  Serpent,’  ‘Mystic  Sangraal,’  ‘the  trembling  Mystae,’ 
‘The  sad-eyed  Epoptae,’  ‘the  sacred  Guomides,’  ‘the  lonely 
ice-girt  Marjelensee,’  ‘Far-famed  Circassian  of  Kabarda,’  ‘Ben- 
salem,’  ‘ Malbolge,’  ‘ Dreary  Caverns  of  the  Agathyrsi,’  ‘Dusty 
Crypts  of  Luxor,’  ‘The  great  Lampadrome  of  Life,’  ‘the  Po- 
tent spell  of  Indian  O-U-M  or  Mystic  Agla.’  Many  readers  do  not 
and  should  not  be  expected  to  know  about  all  these  things;  and 
whether  they  should  or  not  they  won’t  do  it.” 

It  is  natural  for  critics  to  smile  at  such  unheard-of  allu- 
sions as  the  preceding,  and  that  parodists  should  burlesque 
the  author,  as  the  witty  “ John  Paul  ” does  in  his  amusing 
brochure  of  “ St.  Twelmo  but  then  the  author’s  books 
continue  to  sell,  as  her  publishers,  G.  W.  Carleton  & Co., 
can  testify. 

Novel-readers  who  have  not  read  “ Macaria  ” will  be 
staggered  no  doubt  at  the  oft-repeated  recondite  references 
in  the  book,  and  many  will  call  her  pedantic.  Any  one 
who  has  had  the  opportunity  of  engaging  in  conversation 
with  this  brilliant  and  learned  writer  will  bear  me  out  in 
saying  that  she  is  anything  but  pedantic.  She  never  makes 
an  unseemly  show  of  learning,  and  it  is  characteristic  in  her 
to  talk  away  from  herself.  She  has  been  and  continues  to 
be  a great  student  of  the  classics,  and  especially  archaeology, 
including  Egyptian  lore,  and  there  is  no  word  she  makes 
use  of  in  her  writings  but  has  a fitting  place. 

In  a recent  letter  received  from  her  she  relates  the  fol- 
lowing interesting  incident  : 

“ No  one  knows  better  than  yourself  how  the  critics  have 
assailed  me,  and  how  1 have  fought  for  standing  room,  but  several 
times  during  the  last  twenty  years,  when  traveling  in  railway 
cars,  it  has  chanced  that  strangers  sitting  in  front  of  me  have 
amused  themselves  by  discussing  my  books,  and  narrating  things 
which  they  had  heard  of  me,  and  listening  to  all  these  I have 
never  yet  heard  a harsh  criticism  or  an  unkind  word.  Once  a lady 
remarked  that  the  newspaper  stated  I had  restricted  my  studies  to 


AUGUSTA  J.  EVANS  WILSON. 


397 


encyclopaedias  and  dictionaries,  but  she  doubted  ir,  because  there 
were  some  things  in  ‘St.  Elmo’  and  ‘Macaria’  which  could  not 
be  found  in  any  cyclopaedia,  and  she  had  searched  many. 

“ You  can  imagine  how  I enjoyed  this,  from  the  fact  that  at 
that  moment  I did  not  own  a solitary  cyclopaedia,  but  soon  after 
purchased  of  you  Appleton’s — the  first  cyclopaedia  I ever  owned.” 

Miss  Evans*  next  book,  “ St.  Elmo,”  was  a great 
success  ; every  novel-reader  was  talking  about  it.  Towns, 
steamboats,  hotels  were  named  after  it,  and  even  “ St. 
Elmo  punch”  became  a popular  beverage  throughout  the 
South.  The  author  dedicated  “ St.  Elmo”  to  me — an 
honor  which  I have  never  ceased  to  appreciate. 

It  was  soon  followed  by  “ Yashti  ” and  then  “ Infelice.” 
The  latter  was  published  in  1875,  and  is  the  last  from  her 
pen;  and,  I regret  to  say,  the  last  she  expects  to  give  to  the 
public,  who  would  so  gladly  welcome  a new  book  from  her. 

Eepeated  editions  of  each  of  her  six  volumes  are  steadily 
called  for,  and  the  copyright  already  received  by  her  on  the 
sales  approaches  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  a pretty 
good  evidence  that  some  people  read  her  books.  She  has 
been  fortunate  too,  in  her  liberal-minded  Publisher. 

Not  long  since  she  wrote  me  : 

“With  reference  to  my  present  Publisher,  G.  W.  Carleton,  I 
should  like  the  world  to  know  how  noble  and  generous  he  has  al- 
ways been  to  me.  When  purchasing  the  stereotype  plates  of  my 
earlier  books,  he  told  me  that  he  was  obliged  to  pay  so  much  for 
the  plates  of  ‘ Macaria  ’ that  he  could  only  allow  me  a moderate 
percentage  on  the  future  sales.  We  agreed  upon  the  terms  and 
signed  the  contract,  which  specified  a certain  percentage  on  ‘Ma- 
caria.’  Subsequently,  when  ‘ St.  Elmo  ’ and  ‘Yashti’  had  been 
published,  I one  day  received  a letter  from  Mr.  Carleton,  saying 
that  the  sales  of  the  volumes  justified  him  in  increasing  the  per- 
centage on  ‘Macaria.’  From  that  period  until  now,  in  making 
his  annual  settlement  of  copyright,  he  has  paid  me  a larger  per- 
centage on  ‘ Macaria  ’ than  my  original  contract  specified,  and 
this  increase  was  his  own  voluntary  generous  impulse,  for  I had 
never  solicited  any  change  of  terms.  Verily,  a Prince  of  Publish- 
ers !”- 


398 


AUGUSTA  J.  EVANS  WILSON. 


Miss  Evans  was  married  in  1868,  to  L.  M.  Wilson, 
Esq.,  one  of  the  most  influential  citizens  of  Mobile,  who  is 
naturally  very  proud  of  his  brilliant  wife,  and  she  in  the 
happy  domesticity  she  so  much  enjoys. 

It  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  occasionally  visit  their 
delightful  home  near  the  City  of  Mobile,  which  a Louis- 
ville Courier  Journal  correspondent  truly  and  graphically 
describes  as  follows  : 

“ Her  residence  fronts  on  the  Spring  Ilill  shell  road.  Driving 
through  the  gate  up  a well-kept  drive-way  over  one  of  the  prettiest 
lawns  I have  ever  seen,  we  dismounted  in  front  of  her  residence. 
Grand  and  majestic  old  live-oaks,  with  their  gnarled  and  con- 
torted branches  stretching  in  every  direction,  covered  with  their 
tropical  garb  of  long  gray  moss,  were  dotted  here  and  there, 
seemingly  at  random.  Tall  and  symmetrical  magnolias,  magnolia 
fuscatas,  and  various  other  trees,  added  to  the  beauty  of  the  scene. 
The  yard  was  full  of  flowers,  rare  and  radiant,  weighting  the  air 
with  their  rich  perfume.  Rare  geraniums  of  many  kinds,  quite  a 
number  in  full  bloom  and  of  the  richest  colors,  lovely  camellias, 
the  finest  varieties  of  roses,  rare  and  delicate  plants  of  the 
tropics,  together  with  the  hardier  plants  of  the  north,  all  vied 
with  each  other  in  beauty  and  fragrance.  After  walking  through 
the  grounds  feasting  our  eyes  upon  their  beauty,  we  walked  upon 
the  veranda,  which  was  fairly  covered  with  flowers,  many  of  them 
loaded  with  blossoms.  The  house  presents  a cozy  and  attractive 
appearance  that  captivates  the  eye  at  once.  The  very  place  and 
all  of  the  surroundings  are  suggestive  of  poetry  and  romance. 
Here  the  flowers  were  blooming  and  distilling  sweet  fragrance, 
the  mocking-birds  were  caroling  and  singing  merrily,  and  all 
things  spoke  of  peace  and  happiness.  Here  was  wealth  and 
luxury,  an  embowered  home  and  talent  and  genius  to  preside  over 
all — a fitting  home  for  the  gifted  authoress  of  ‘St.  Elmo’  and  ■ 
‘ Infelice.’  ” 

That  this  gifted  author  does  not  take  readily  to  the  re- 
cent movement  to  invest  her  sex  with  the  right  of  suffrage 
is  very  forcibly  illustrated  in  the  remarks  of  the  United 
States  Senator  Vest,  when  he  says  that 


AUGUSTA  J.  EVANS  WILSON. 


S99 


“ Not  one-  tenth  of  the  mothers  and  sisters  of  the  Christian 
■woman  in  this  land  want  to  be  turned  into  politicians.  One  of  the 
most  gifted  of  this  class  of  women  is  the  talented  Mrs.  Augusta 
Evans  Wilson,  who  is  certainly  entitled  to  speak  for  the  better  ele- 
ments of  her  sex.  On  this  question  she  says,  ‘ I think  that  the 
noble  and  true  women  of  this  continent  earnestly  believe  that  the 
day  which  invests  them  with  the  elective  franchise,  would  be  the 
blackest  in  the  annals  of  humanity — would  ring  the  death-knell 
of  modern  civilization,  national  prosperity,  social  morality  and 
domestic  happiness  I and  would  consign  the  race  to  a night  of 
degradation  and  horror  more  appalling  than  a return  to  primeval 
barbarism.  Then  every  exciting  political  election  would  witness 
the  revolting  deeds  of  the  furies  who  assisted  in  storming  the 
Tuilieries  ; and  repetitions  of  scenes  enacted  during  the  reign  of 
the  Paris  Commune  would  mournfully  attest  how  terrible  are 
female  natures  when  once  perverted.’” 

In  speaking  of  her  writings  Mrs.  Evans  Wilson  once  said 
to  me,  that  it  was  a source  of  great  happiness  for  her  to 
know  of  instances  where  they  had  done  some  good  in  the 
world.  One  was  the  precious  assurance  that  two  men,  one 
in  Europe  and  another  in  America,  have  written  her  that 
her  books  were  the  blessed  means  of  reclaiming  them  from 
vice  and  infidelity  ; that  owing  to  her  labors  they  had 
become  trusting,  praying  Christians, — and  that  at  their 
family  altar,  prayers  were  offered  for  the  author — a reward 
considered  by  her  inestimable.  Another  fact  which  has 
given  her  great  comfort,  is  the  power  her  books  have  had 
over  the  minds  of  young  people,  numbers  of  whom  from  all 
parts  of  the  United  States  write  her  asking  advice  and  guid- 
ance in  their  studies,  and  thus  enabling  her  to  furnish 
them  lists  of  good  and  standard  authors. 


XXIV. 


JOHN  ESTEN  COOKE. 

Best  representative  of  Southern  Authorship — Whole  edi- 
tion of  first  book  burned — Novelist , Historian  arid 
Biographer — An  Author  icith  many  Publishers — 
Poets  and  Poetry  of  the  South — Stonewall  Jackson's 
Life  icritten  on  the  Battlefield — General  Lee  gives  His 
Consent — UI  have  Loved  thee  ever  dearly , Florence 
Vane  " — Washington  Irving's  gardener  says , “ It's 
Twins  ! It's  Twins  !" — Anecdotes  of  Thackeray  and 
G.  P.  P.  Janies — His  happy  Home  in  Virginia. 


T OHN  ESTEN  COOKE  of  Virginia  is  perhaps  the  best 
W living  representative  of  Southern  authors. 

Thirty  years  ago  the  Harpers  printed  his  first  book, 
“ Leather  Stocking  and  Silk."  The  whole  edition  was 
burned  in  a great  fire  in  1853,  which  destroyed  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  publishers.  The  volume  was  re-printed 
and  published  the  following  year.  It  was  a story  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  met  with  such  favor,  that  it  was  introduced  by 
Tauchnitz  into  his  Leipsic  series  of  novels. 

Mr.  Cooke’s  latest  work  is  the  history  of  the  people  of 
Virginia  in  the  series  of  “American  Commonwealths”  now 
in  course  of  publication  by  Houghton,  Mifflin  & Co. 

Mr.  Cooke  is  the  most  voluminous  of  Southern  writers. 
Besides  numerous  contributions  for  magazines  and  literary 
papers  he  has  written  more  than  thirty  different  works 
published  in  book  form.  He  also  glories  in  the  rare  dis- 
tinction of  having  had  more  than  fifteen  different  pub- 
lishers. His  first,  as  well  as  his  last  novel,  bears  the  im- 
[400] 


JOHN  ESTEN  COOKE. 


401 


print  of  his  Franklin  Square  friends.  Mr.  Cooke  admits 
that  it  is  unusual  for  an  author  to  have  so  many  publishers, 
though  he  assures  me  that  in  no  case  has  it  been  from  mis- 
understanding, but  has  arisen  from  various  circumstances 
not  necessary  to  mention.  I can  bear  witness  to  his  asser- 
tion, as  I happen  to  know  that  his  publishers  are  his  per- 
sonal friends,  always  ready  with  their  imprint  for  any  new 
book  he  may  offer. 

His  third  novel,  “The  Last  of  the  Forresters,”  was 
published  by  my  firm  in  1856.  And  in  1860  I concluded  a 
contract  with  him  and  the  late  John  R.  Thompson  to  com- 
pile a volume  entitled  “ The  Poets  and  Poetry  of  the  South.” 
The  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  put  a quietus  on  that 
enterprise. 

In  addition  to  the  novelist  and  historian,  Mr.  Cooke  is 
also  a biographer.  He  was  well  accoutred  to  write  the  lives 
of  Generals  Robert  E.  Lee  and  Stonewall  Jackson,  as  he 
served  during  the  war  under  both  those  Confederate  chief- 
tains. I can  vouch  for  the  great  popularity  of  both  bio- 
graphies as  they  were  published  under  my  management 
while  connected  with  the  house  of  D.  Appleton  & Co. 

“ The  life  of  Stonewall  Jackson  ” was  written  on  the 
field,  often  with  the  wind  “flaring  or  making  flare  his 
Hallow  dip.’”  He  remembers  stopping  at  one  time  in 
the  middle  of  a sentence  to  go  and  get  shot  at  by  a 
party  of  blue  cavalry.  Most  of  the  MS.  was  sent  off  as 
written,  but  his  satchel  with  the  remainder  was  captured 
with  his  tooth  brush-and  pra}7er-book.  Several  thou- 
sand copies  were  printed  in  Richmond  when  Jefferson 
Davis  conscripted  the  printers.  It  was  re-written  after 
General  Jackson^s  death  and  accepted  for  publication 
by  Mr.  William  H.  Appleton,  who  also  proposed  to  him  in 
1866  to  write  the  life  of  General  Lee.  Mr.  Cooke  consulted 
the  General  on  the  subject,  knowing  that  he  contemplated 
writing  his  relation  to  the  war  himself.  General  Lee  said 
to  him  that  the  proposed  work — should  he  ever  write  a his- 
tory of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia — would  be  more  of 


402 


JOHN  ESTEN  COOKE. 


an  assistance  than  hindrance.  After  General  Lee’s  death 
the  work  was  completed.  In  writing  it  he  had  the  sympa- 
thies and  encouragement  of  General  Lee’s  widow  and  also 
of  General  Custis  Lee,  his  son. 

Four  of  Mr.  Cooke’s  war  novels,  “ Hammer  and  Rapier,” 
etc.,  were  published  about  this  time,  by  G.  W.  Carleton. 

Mr.  Cooke’s  brother,  Philip  Pendleton  Cooke,  was  the 
author  of  the  poem  “ Florence  Vane,”  which  I have  always 
considered  one  of  the  finest  in  the  English  language. 

Mr.  Cooke  once  told  me  that  when  his  brother  was 
eighteen  or  twenty,  he  fell  in  love  with  his  cousin, 
Evelina  Dandridge — “ Florence  Var.e.”  He  often  rode  his 
fine  black  horse,  “John  Randolph,”  on  moonlight  nights 
fifteen  miles  to  see  her.  He  would  throw  nosegays  into  her 
window  and  ride  home  again.  Of  this  boy  and  girl  passion 
nothing  came.  He  went  to  college,  she  to  spend  the  winter 
in  Richmond.  There  she  became  engaged  to  and  married 
R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  subsequently  the  eminent  Virginian 
statesman.  His  brother  also  married  in  his  turn  Miss 
Burwell  of  the  Valley.  It  was  after  his  marriage  that  he 
wrote  “ Florence  Vane.”  It  came  to  him  he  said  whilst  he 
was  walking  in  the  garden  listening  to  his  young  wife  seated 
in  a window  singing.  I give  this  account  of  this  exquisite 
lyric  as  related  to  me  by  Mr.  Cooke,  and  think  my  readers 
will  thank  me  for  reproducing  it  here. 


“ FLORENCE  VANE. 

4<  I loved  thee  long  and  dearly, 
Florence  Vane; 

My  life’s  bright  dream  and  early 
Hath  come  again; 

I renew,  in  my  fond  vision, 

My  heart’s  dear  pain — 

My  hopes  and  thy  derision, 
Florence  Vane. 


JOHN  ESTEN  COOKE. 


403 


u The  ruin,  lone  and  hoary, 

The  ruin  old, 

Where  thou  did’st  hark  my  story, 

At  even  told — 

That  spot — the  hues  Elysian, 

Of  sky  and  plain — 

I treasure  in  my  vision, 

Florence  Vane! 

“ Thou  wast  lovelier  than  the  roses 
In  their  prime ; 

Thy  voice  excelled  the  closes 
Of  sweetest  rhyme; 

Thy  heart  was  as  a river 
Without  a main, 

Would  I had  loved  thee  never, 

Florence  Yane! 

“ But  fairest,  coldest  wonder  1 
Thy  glorious  clay — 

Lietli  the  green  sod  under — 

Alas,  the  day ! 

And  it  boots  not  to  remember 
Thy  disdain, 

To  quicken  love’s  pale  ember, 

Florence  Vane! 

“ The  lilies  of  the  valley 

By  young  graves  weep ; 

The  daisies  love  to  dally 
Where  maidens  sleep, 

May  their  bloom,  in  beauty  vying, 

Never  wane, 

Where  thine  earthly  part  is  lying, 

Florence  Vane!” 

Philip  Pendleton  Cooke  died  in  1850,  at  the  early  age 
of  thirty-fonr.  He  was  the  author  of  “ Froissart's  Ballads,” 
and  a volume  of  poems. 

Mr.  Cooke  has  always  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  the 
leading  literary  people  of  both  the  North  and  South. 


404 


JOHN  ESTEN  COOKE. 


He  once  related  to  me  a visit  which,  he  made  with 
Evart  A.  Duyckinck,  on  Washington  Irving  in  1859,  at 
Sunnyside,  shortly  before  the  latter’s  death.  Mr.  Cooke 
says  they  walked  into  the  grounds  and  saw  a small  gentle- 
man in  black  with  his  back  to  them.  Mr.  Duyckinck  went 
up  and  spoke  to  him  and  he  instantly  wheeled  round  with 
a smile  holding  out  his  hand.  “ Oh,  I thought  you  were 
some  of  those  reporters  from  Hew  York  !”  he  said  ; after 
which  he  explained  that  he  was  often  annoyed  by  intrusive 
strangers.  Mr.  Irving  talked  in  an  easy,  humorous  tone  on 
any  subject  suggested,  one  being  the  neatness  of  the 
grounds.  He  said  his  gardener’s  children  had  been  there 
that  morning  and  pulled  all  his  roses  for  a “little  fete.” 
They  were  fine  attractive  girls  and  his  gardener  a worthy 
man.  His  wife  had  recently  become  a mother  again,  which 
was  not  an  unusual  thing  for  the  good  woman,  and  Mr. 
Irving  said  he  thought  he  ought  to  congratulate  him,  but 
when  he  told  him  he  was  a lucky  fellow  he  gave  him  a 
woeful  look  and  groaned,  “ It’s  twins  ! It’s  twins  !”  Mr. 
Cooke  says  Irving  told  him  he  had  known  the  Empress 
Eugenie  when  he  was  United  States  Minister  to  Spain. 
Siie  was  then  little  Eugenie  de  Monti  jo,  daughter  of 
Count  de  Teba,  and  often  appeared  at  the  masquerades  at 
Madrid,  as  a female  mousquetaire.  She  was  a fine,  buxom 
girl,  he  said  laughingly,  and  when  she  was  a child  he  had 
often  taken  her  on  his  knee.  “ When  I was  in  Washing- 
ton,” he  added,  “I  often  saw  old  Calderon — the  Spanish 
minister — and  he  said  one  day,  Good  Heavens,  Irving  ! 
Just  to  think  of  little  Eugenie  being  an  Empress — hum  ! 
hum  ! hum  !’  ” 

Another  of  Mr.  Cooke’s  literary  friends  was  the  late 
G.  P.  It.  James,  whose  novels  were  all  the  rage  forty  years 
ago,  as  many  of  my  bookselling  friends  will  remember. 
He  had  been  appointed  British  consul  at  Richmond,  and 
was  a great  favorite  in  society  there.  Thackeray  visited 
him  on  his  trip  South,  but  he  resented  the  latter’s  flings 


JOHN  ESTEN  COOKE. 


405 


at  him  as  a “ solitary  horseman, ’*  the  meaning  of  which 
those  who  have  read  James*  novels  will  understand. 

Mr.  James  once  told  Cooke  of  his  intention  to  write 
his  own  memoirs,  as  he  had  known  many  distinguished 
people,  and  of  whom  he  could  tell  good  stories,  one  of 
which  he  related  to  the  latter.  He  had  been  in  Bordeaux 
many  years  before,  and  after  strolling  all  day  over  the 
old  town  returned  to  his  inn,  and  having  supped,  went  to- 
ward his  chamber.  His  way  led  through  a long,  dark 
passage,  but  he  saw  some  one  in  front  carrying  a candle — a 
man  in  black  slowly  ascending  the  old-fashioned  staircase. 
On  the  landing  the  man  stopped,  and  holding  up  his  candle 
looked  at  some  object.  It  was  a cat  lying  on  a window  sill 
with  a surprised  and  frightened  expression  as  she  fixed  her 
eyes  upon  him.  The  stranger  in  black  looked  at  the  cat 
some  time  minutely  and  muttered  in  a deserted  tone, 
“ Ah  Pussy  ! Pussy  ! If  you  had  seen  as  much  trouble  as 
I have,  you  would  not  be  surprised  at  anything.**  After 
which  he  went  on  up  the  stairs,  continued  Mr.  James,  and 
as  I heard  that  Irving  was  in  Bordeaux,  I said  to  myself  : 
“ That  can  be  nobody  in  the  world  but  Irving,**  which 
turned  out  to  be  a fact. 

Washington  Irving,  it  maybe  remembered,  was  the  first 
one  to  encourage  Mr.  James  in  the  world  of  fiction,  and  it 
was  under  his  advisement  that  the  latter  published  his  first 
volume,  the  life  of  “ Edward,  the  Black  Prince.** 

Mr.  Cooke  remembers  many  pleasant  talks  with  Thack- 
eray during  the  latter’s  visit  to  Richmond.  On  one  occa- 
sion the  latter  said,  “ If  I were  you  1 would  go  on  writing. 
Some  day  you  will  make  a fortune.  Becky  Sharp  made  mine. 
I married  early  and  wrote  for  bread.**  At  another  time 
he  spoke  of  his  writings  without  reserve,  as  he  did  of  him- 
self. He  said,  “ I like  Becky  Sharp  ; she  is  a Bohemian, 
and  I prefer  Bohemians  to  other  society  ; they  are  more 
unconventional,  and  wear  their  hair  on  their  shoulders  if 
they  like.**  Speaking  of  his  literary  habits,  he  said  he  al- 
ways smoked  while  writing.  Never  wrote  at  night  because 


406 


JOHN  ESTEN  COOKE. 


it  kept  liim  from  sleeping.  He  dictated  to  an  amanuensis 
the  whole  of  “ Esmond  ” and  “ Pendennis.”  Mr.  Cooke 
told  him  how  much  pleased  he  was  to  know  that  the  scene 
of  his  new  novel,  “ The  Virginians,”  was  to  be  laid  in 
Virginia,  and  possibly  he  might  make  Yorktown  the 
denouement. 

Mr.  Cooke  said  he  felt  shocked  at  having  made  the  latter 
suggestion  and  immediately  added  that  he  ought  to  beg 
his  pardon.  “ Beg  my  pardon  ? ’’  he  asked,  apparently  sur- 
prised, “At  suggesting  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  as  an 
agreeable  denouement  to  you.”  Thackeray  said,  “ It  is  noth- 
ing. I accept  Yorktown.”  Cooke  said  to  him  that  he 
knew  he  admired  Washington.  The  former  replied  that 
he  was  the  greatest  man  that  ever  lived.  And  yet  if  the 
English  had  caught  him  they  probably  would  have  hanged 
him  as  a rebel.  “We  had  better  have  lost  North  Amer- 
ica,” said  Thackeray  emphatically. 

Mr.  Cooke  resides  on  his  beautiful  estate  in  the  Shenan- 
doah Valley,  where  his  Northern  friends  often  visit  him, 
returning  with  delightful  impressions  of  his  romantic  and 
hospitable  home,  where  he  lives  a happy  life  with  his 
children,  friends,  books,  papers  and  pipe.  His  motto  is 
Esperance ! 


XXV 


FAMOUS  HUMORISTS. 


B.  P.  SHILLABER  (Mrs.  Partington). 

How  Mrs.  Partington  loolcs — Ancient  Motherly  Woman 
with  Cap  ayid  Spectacles — Wonderful  Popularity  of 
her  Sayings — The  Origin  of  her  Book — How  a Bonanza 
struck  the  Author — Rich  as  Vanderbilt  or  Gould — 
Artemus  Ward — Miles  O’Reilly — John  G.  Saxe. 

RS.  PARTINGTON  has  been  represented  as  an  ancient 
motherly  woman  with  cap  and  spectacles,  in  the  act 
of  taking  a pinch  of  snuff,  or  placidly  knitting,  as  she  lec- 
tures the  mischievous  Ike.  Her  sayings  at  one  time  were 
copied  in  all  the  newspapers  of  the  land,  and  even  at  this 
day  we  hear  of  the  humorous  utterances  and  quaint 
benevolent  remarks  with  a smile  and  ofttimes  with  a 
laugh. 

In  the  year  1854,  it  occurred  to  me  that  a collected 
volume  of  these  sketches,  fittingly  illustrated,  would  make 
a pretty  good  selling  book.  I accordingly  went  to  Boston 
to  see  Mr.  B.  P.  Shillaber,  who  at  that  time  was  one  of  the 
editors  of  the  Boston  Post , and  proposed  the  preparation 
of  his  sketches,  and  their  publication  in  book  form.  The 
result  of  my  interview  is  thus  graphically  set  forth  in  the 
following  letter  just  received  from  him,  in  response  to  my 

[407] 


408 


B.  P.  SIIILLABER. 


inquiry,  whether  he  still  lived,  and  further,  if  he  did  live, 
to  refresh  my  memory  as  to  our  first  interview. 

44  My  Dear  Derby  : 

44  Mrs.  Partington  4 still  lives  ’ and  thus  refreshes  your 
memory.  I did  not  strike  the  bonanza  but  the  bonanza 
struck  me.  Mrs.  Partington  had  won  her  way  into  public 
affection,  through  the  medium  of  the  Post , and  I fancied 
no  wider  province  for  her  than  simply  creating  a smile  for 
the  reader  of  that  paper,  and  such  as  might  be  tickled  by 
her  peculiar  fancies  in  other  points.  Occupying  a subor- 
dinate position  on  the  paper,  I threw  the  sayings  in  among 
the  4 All  sorts  of  Paragraphs’  as  fatherless  waifs,  content 
to  see  them  caught  up  and  read  with  no  ambition  beyond. 
They  had  thus  continued  for  three  years  and  more,  until 
what  had  been  commenced  as  a pleasantry  for  the  moment, 
had  assumed  formidable  proportions.  So  little  had  I 
dreamed  of  any  future  use  for  them,  that  I failed  even  to 
scrap  them,  and  thus  was  taken  at  great  disadvantage  when 
the  bonanza  struck  me. 

44  One  day  I received  a startling  and,  as  I thought,  rather 
ludicrous  proposition  from  a distinguished  publishing  firm 
in  Springfield,  asking  my  terms  for  collecting  the  4 Par- 
tington Sayings  ’ for  them.  Is  ubmitted  the  matter  to  my 
associates,  who  good-naturedly  joined  with  me  in  laughing 
it  down,  as  your  friends  will  anything  that  concerns  you,  if 
you  encourage  them,  and  sometimes  they  will  if  you  don’t. 
While  we  were  still  engaged  in  pleasant  banter  about  pro- 
spective authorship  and  magnificent  returns,  the  door 
opened  and  some  one  inquired  for  me. 

44  The  inquirer  was  a very  pleasant  and  gentlemanly 
stranger,  who  immediately  revealed  his  business  by  asking 
me,  in  almost  the  precise  terms  of  the  letter  just  received, 
what  I would  collect  the  4 Partington  Sayings’  for,  as- 
suring me  that  he  had  come  from  New  York  solely  to  see 
me  with  reference  to  publishing  them  in  a book.  Full  of 
the  late  feeling  regarding  the  other  proposition,  and  think- 


B.  P.  SHILLABER. 


409 


ing  it  might  be  from  the  same  parties,  I laughingly  informed 
him  that  I had  just  received  his  letter,  and  had  made  up 
my  mind  not  to  enter  the  publishing  field,  deeming  that 
an  excess  of  riches  derived  therefrom  might  disturb  our 
pleasant  relations. 

“He  told  me  in  reply  that  he  had  written  no  letter,  but 
was  Mr.  J.  0.  Derby,  of  the  firm  of  Derby  & Jackson,  of  New 
York,  who  had  determined  to  publish  the  book  if  they  could 
get  the  copy,  and  that  rested  with  me. 

444  Can  you  be  in  earnest?’  I said,  looking  at  him 
sharply.  4 Never  more  so,’  he  replied. 

44  4 Well,  my  dear  sir,’  said  I,  ‘ the  thing  is  utterly  im- 
possible. In  the  first  place,  they  can’t  be  collected;  and 
next,  like  the  Yankee  speaking  of  the  defeat  at  White 
Plains,  ‘‘I  don’t  take  no  interest.”’ 

44 4 Bat,’  he  continued,  4 I’ll  make  it  of  interest  to  you. 
See  here ; if  you  will  collect  the  copy  for  a book,  for  three 
hundred  pages,  in  my  hand,  I’ll  give  you  one  thousand  dol- 
lars in  cash.’ 

44  4 What ! ’ I yelled,  so  loud  that  an  office  hand  who  was 
trimming  the  lamps,  came  out  to  see  what  was  the  matter. 
I looked  round  for  some  comfortable  place  to  fall  on,  in 
case  I fainted  ; I looked  at  him  with  misty  astonishment 
and  marveled  that  the  maker  of  so  mad  a proposition 
should  bear  himself  so  serenely.  4 Yes,’  said  he,  4 and  I’ll 
make  it  stronger  by  saying,  that  if  you  wait  its  publication, 
I will  pay  you  two  thousand  dollars  down  besides,  after 
copyright.’ 

44  4 1 can’t  decide  at  once,’  I managed  to  gasp,  the  sweat 
beading  my  forehead  through  agitation. 

44  4 Take  your  own  time,’  he  said,  4 1 am  here  for  this  pur- 
pose, and  here  I shall  stay,  till  I get  what  I came  for.  I 
am  stopping  at  the  Tremont.’  He  then  left  me  in  an  aurif- 
erous dream. 

44  4 Now,  with  Mr.  Vanderbilt  or  Mr.  Gould,  a slight  turn 
in  the  stock  market,  pouring  millions  into  their  coffers, 
would  not  affect  them  as  I was  at  that  offer,  so  munificent 
18 


410 


B.  P.  SHILL  ABER. 


as  I dreamed  it,  and  I hardly  knew  how  to  act.  Mr.  Derby 
was  so  earnest  and  positive  that  his  proposition  could  not 
be  overlooked  or  got  over,  and  those  most  ready  to  laugh 
with  me  at  the  absurdity  of  the  first  proposition,  took  a 
different  view  of  this,  and  urged  compliance.  Home 
counsel,  with  their  tender  sympathies,  settled  the  matter  ; 
and  yielding  gracefully  to  the  tempter,  I set  about  a com- 
pilation that,  whether  good  or  not,  the  sale  of  at  least  fifty 
thousand  copies  must  certify.  And  thus  the  ‘ Life  and 
Sayings  of  Mrs.  Partington ’ was  issued,  with  the  following 
introductory  remarks  : 

‘‘Mrs.  Partington  once  declined  an  introduction  to  a 
party,  because  she  did  not  wish  to  be  introduced  to  any- 
one she  was  not  acquainted  with.  She  needs  no  introduc- 
tion now.  In  all  parts  of  our  own  land  and  over  the  sea, 
her  name  is  familiar  as  a household  word  ; and  e as  Mrs. 
Partington  would  say’  forms  a tributary  clause  to  many  a 
good  story,  or  an  apology  for  many  a bad  one  ; a smile  at- 
tending utterance  of  the  name  in  evidence  of  its  apprecia- 
tion. But  a preface  of  course  is  expected  ; and  so,  in  the 
most  gentle  manner  in  the  world,  we  will  tell  you,  reader, 
a little  story  about  the  origin  of  the  Partington  sayings, 
and  why  they  were  said  and  why  they  are  here  collected. 
Perhaps  you  have  guessed  it  all ; but  it  is  well  to  be  cer. 
tain. 

“ In  the  first  place  they  were  written  as  the  canine 
quadruped  is  said  to  have  gone  to  church  for  fun,  for  the 
author’s  own  amusement,  with  a latent  hope,  however, 
half-indulged,  that  the  big  world,  which  the  author  very 
much  loves  and  wishes  to  please,  might  see  something  in 
them  at  which  to  smile.  He  was  modest  in  his  hope,  and 
hid  himself  behind  an  incognito,  impenetrable  he  thought, 
where  he  could  see  the  effect  of  his  mild  squibs  on  the 
public.  The  result  pleased  him,  and  he  kept  vigorously 
blazing  away  unseen,  as  much  so  as  the  simple  bird  that 
thrusts  its  head  under  a leaf  and  fancies  itself  unobserved  ! 


B.  P.  SHILLABER. 


411 


—until  they  have  arisen  to  a magnitude  that  some  people 
might  deem  respectable. 

Before  the  book  was  published,  Derby  & Jackson  sent 
me  a check  for  two  thousand  dollars,  twenty  thousand 
copies  haying  been  ordered.  It  had  a great  subsequent 
sale.  Though  ‘ Mrs.  Partington 9 belongs  to  a past  genera- 
tion, there  is  still  a warm  interest  manifested  for  her,  that 
finds  expression  in  demands  for  her  autograph,  coupled 
with  modest  requests  for  a characteristic  ‘sentiment/ 
annoying  at  times,  yet  pleasant,  because  one  does  not  like 
to  be  quite  forgotten,  and — 

44  ‘ A memory  in  gentle  hearts, 

To  me  were  better  fame, 

Than  all  a hollow  world  imparts 
To  signalize  a name.’ 

“ B.  P.  Shillaber. 

“ Chelsea,  April  15th,  1884.” 

In  the  year  1850,  Mr.  Shillaber  started  a weekly  paper 
called  the  Carpet  Bag.  It  was  a humorous  sheet,  as  one 
can  readily  imagine,  in  which  appeared  the  earliest  writ- 
ings of  John  G.  Saxe,  the  witty  poet ; Charles  G.  Halpine 
(Miles  O’Reilly)  and  Charles  F.  Browne  (Artemus  Ward). 
Mr.  Halpine  was  for  a short  time  associate  editor  with  Mr. 
Shillaber,  where,  the  latter  tells  me,  he  learned  to  admire 
and  respect  his  great  genius.  A more  versatile  writer,  he 
says,  he  thinks  he  never  knew,  nor  one  who  possessed  more 
power — often  revealed  in  his  strictures  upon  contempo- 
raries— which  made  him  enemies  ; but  they  were  afraid  of 
him  and  rarely  struck  back.  He  was  a ripe  scholar,  and 
hated  the  namby-pambyism  of  the  literary  press,  and  the 
feeble  nothings,  as  he  regarded  them,  of  their  contributions. 
He  was  a remorseless  writer,  and  dashed  among  people 
right  and  left,  impaling  them  upon  his  pen-point  and 
showing  them  no  mercy.  As  a poet  he  was  brilliant  and 
sensuous  ; one  poem — (e  An  imperfect  Hymn  to  the  Types  ” 


412 


B.  P.  SHILLABER. 


— was  a really  sublime  effort.  He  was  most  fascinating 
in  bis  manner,  holding  every  one  to  his  will,  whether  liking 
him  or  not,  and  a true  friend  where  he  became  attached. 
He  was  very  classical,  had  Horace  at  his  finger-ends,  and 
sported  an  alias  for  every  phase  of  his  writing.  Resulting 
from  the  bitterness  of  his  witticism,  he  was  actually  chal- 
lenged to  a duel,  to  come  off  in  Canada,  by  one  t'hat  he  had 
excoriated. 

Mr.  Shillaber  says  Charles  F.  Browme  came  to  the 
Carpet  Bag  office  from  Maine,  a shrewd,  verdant,  good- 
natured  printer,  not  out  of  his  time.  He  gave  no  early 
evidence  of  hidden  genius,  and  rarely  let  himself  out 
beyond  joking  with  his  printer  associates,  and  an  occasional 
short  article,  modestly  submitted,  over  the  signature  of 
“Lieut.  Chub.”  These  attracted  attention,  especially  one, 
a reprint,  where  the  Battle  of  Yorktown  was  described  as 
the  programme  of  a country  muster,  and  General  Wash- 
ington, under  the  influence  of  liquor,  got  licked.  It  was 
intensely  funny.  Browne  showed  that  under  a rough 
covering  there  was  a big  promise.  He  soon  left  for  New 
York,  where  Mr.  Shillaber  says  he  next  met  him,  a year  or 
two  afterwards,  transformed  into  a city  buck,  associating 
with  Henry  Clapp  in  editing  Vanity  Fair , and  dined  at 
PfafFs  with  Ada  Clare  and  the  Bohemians.  He  soon  after 
went  off  on  his  lecturing  tour,  taking  the  world  captive 
under  the  nom  de  plume  of  “ Artemus  Wrard.” 

Mr.  Shillaber  once  told  me  his  acquaintance  with  John 
G.  Saxe  commenced  in  1840,  when  on  the  Post,  he  being  a 
contributor  of  sonnets  and  paragraphs,  with  an  occasional 
poem,  over  the  signature  of  “ Axes.”  He  was  young  and 
full  of  fire,  and  his  articles  had  a ring  to  them  that  rendered 
them  admirable.  A series  of  paragraphs,  entitled  “ Saws 
Reset” — controverting  old  everyday  proverbs  and  showing 
their  fallacy — were  very  funny.  He  was  a handsome  man, 
of  tall  and  commanding  figure,  and  bore  himself  with  a 
self-sustained  manner,  hardly  denoting  the  humorist,  but 
unbending  in  a moment  with  the  most  genial  affability. 


MIRIAM  BERRY  WIIITCHER. 


413 


and  yielding  himself  to  the  association  of  the  moment,  de- 
lighting the  little  circle  he  addressed.  Though  funny, 
there  was  no  mirthful  demonstration  in  him,  and  he  told 
his  most  smile-provoking  stories,  with  the  utmost  gravity 
of  demeanor.  He  was  one  who  well  knew  the  merit  of  his 
own  production,  and  the  fact  always  bears  out  his  assump- 
tion regarding  them. 


MIRIAM  BERRY  WHITCHER  (Widow  Bedott.) 

Joseph  Neal's  Charcoal  Sketches — Charles  Dickens  appro- 
priates them — George  P.  Putnam's  Statement — “ Widow 
Bedott  " discovered — Miriam  Berry , a young  country 
girl , the  Author — “ Bursting  into  jits  of  laughter  " — 
Alice  B.  Neal  becomes  Alice  B.  Haven — Popularity  of 
“ Cousin  Alice  " — One  hundred  thousand  Bedott 
Papers  sold — “ Widow  Bedott  " a household  god. 

'll  TORE  than  forty  years  ago  a series  of  humorous  contri- 
butions  by  “ Widow  Bedott ” began  to  appear  in  Neal's 
Saturday  Gazette , a weekly  newspaper  published  in  Phila- 
delphia. 

Its  editor,  Joseph  0.  Neal,  was  a humorous  writer  him- 
self, of  considerable  note.  His  published  volume  of 
“ Charcoal  Sketches”  has  been  compared  favorably  by 
critics,  to  the  earliest  writings  of  Charles  Dickens. 

The  late  George  P.  Putnam  in  his  “American  Facts,” 
published  in  London,  in  1846,  makes  the  following  state- 
ment : 

“Joseph  C.  Neal,  of  Philadelphia,  published  about  1839,  a 
volume  called  ‘Charcoal  Sketches,*  with  illustrations;  his  name 
appended  in  full.  This  volume  appears  entire,  plates  and  all, 
in  the  middle  of  ‘Pickwick  Papers,’ edited  by  Charles  Dickens, 
3 volumes,  London,  1841.  Mr.  Neal,  no  doubt,  would  have  been 
proud  of  his  company,  if  his  patron  had  not  introduced  him  as  a 
nameless  person ! ‘A  volume  has  been  appended  (to  make  the 


414 


MIRIAM  BERRY  WHITCHER. 


orthodox  three)  from  an  American  source,’  says  the  editor;  ‘but 
not  a syllable  about  the  name,  either  of  author  or  book!”’ 

At  first  the  readers  of  the  Gazette  attributed  the  author- 
ship of  the  “ Widow  Bedotfc  Papers”  to  Mr.  Neal  himself, 
but  the  latter  was  as  much  in  the  dark  about  the  authorship 
as  the  public  were. 

Determined  to  find  the  identity  of  the  author,  he  wrote 
to  his  unknown  correspondent  and  ascertained  from  her 
that  she  was  no  widow  at  all,  but  a young  maiden  lady  resid- 
ing in  Central  New  York,  who  had  never  previously  written 
anything  for  publication,  and  was  really  of  a serious  turn  of 
mind.  She  was  astonished  on  hearing  from  Mr.  Neal  of  the 
great  popularity  of  her  sketches,  which  largely  increased 
the  demand  for  his  Gazette . 

Mr.  Neal  wrote  her  that  he  and  other  critics  considered 
them  the  best  Yankee  dialect  stories  that  had  yet  appeared, 
and  instanced  “ a lady  who  for  several  days  after  reading 
one  of  them,  was  continually,  and  often  at  moments  the 
most  inopportune,  bursting  into  fits  of  violent  laughter.” 

Mr.  Neal  also  informed  the  author  that  L.  A.  Godey, 
the  well-known  editor  of  the  “ Lady’s  Book,”  desired  to 
secure  her  as  a contributor  to  his  magazine.  The  result 
was  an  engagement  on  her  part  to  write  for  both  the 
monthly  magazine  and  weekly  paper,  which  continued  un- 
til her  death. 

The  writer  of  the  “ Widow  Bedott  Papers”  proved  to 
be  Miriam  Berry,  of  Whitesboro,  N.  Y.  Soon  after  the 
engagements  to  write  for  these  editors.  Miss  Berry  was 
married  to  Rev.  B.  W.  Whitclier,  rector  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  same  village,  but  she  died  within  the  year 
of  her  marriage,  leaving  one  child. 

The  premature  death  of  one  who  had  become  so  famous 
a writer  was  greatly  regretted  by  tens  of  thousands  of  de- 
lighted readers. 

A collection  of  the  sketches  was  made  by  her  surviving 
friends  and  ultimately  published  in  a volume  bearing  my 
imprint  as  its  publisher,  in  1855. 


MIRIAM  BERKY  WHITCHER. 


415 


In  the  early  part  of  that  year  a lady  called  at  my  office 
in  Nassau  Street,  and  introduced  herself  as  Mrs.  Alice 
B.  Haven.  She  said  she  had  brought  me  some  fugitive 
sketches  which  she  desired  published  in  book-form.  I 
looked  over  the  scrap-book  containing  the  collection  and 
told  her  I had  never  read  any  of  them,  but  would  examine 
them  with  pleasure,  and  advise  her  as  early  as  possible 
if  they  were  accepted  for  publication. 

Mrs.  Haven  was  at  one  time  a co-editor  of  the  Saturday 
Gazette,  with  Mr.  Joseph  C.  Neal,  her  first  husband.  He 
having  died  shortly  after  their  marriage  the  paper 
was  soon  after  discontinued.  She,  like  the  author  of 
“ Widow  Bedott,"  had  been  an  anonymous  contributor  to 
Neal's  Saturday  Gazette,  and . the  young  editor  being 
greatly  impressed  with  her  contributions  opened  a corres- 
pondence of  a personal  nature  which  led  to  courtship  and 
subsequent  marriage. 

Six  years  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Neal,  the  widow  married 
Mr.  Joshua  L.  Haven.  Mrs.  Haven  died  six  years  later,  not 
however  without  leaving  a permanent  place  in  literature. 

She  wrote  under  the  nom  de plume  of  “Cousin  Alice," 
and  as  a successful  writer  for  the  young,  her  publishers, 
D.  Appleton  & Co.,  can  bear  witness  to  her  great  popu- 
larity. An  affectionate  memorial  volume  of  Mrs.  Haven 
was  published  by  that  house  in  1865. 

In  accordance  with  the  previous  understanding  with 
Mrs.  Haven,  I took  the  sketches  home  and  at  night 
began  to  read  them  to  my  family  circle.  This  was  about 
thirty  years  ago,  and  I can  rejnember  the  scene  as  if  it 
were  yesterday,  how  one  after  another  of  my  family  be- 
gan to  laugh  as  I read  on.  The  first  chapter,  Hezekiah 
Bedott,  almost  settled  the  question  of  publication.  The 
mirth-provoking  stories  of  the  widow  became  infectious, 
and  the  verdict  of  acceptance  was  unanimous. 

I wrote  to  Mrs.  Haven  the  following  day,  and  we  soon 
agreed  upon  terms  of  publication.  Mrs.  Haven  was  to 
write  the  preface  to  the  collection  and  I was  to  pay  the 


41G 


MIRIAM  BERRY  WIIIT0I1ER. 


usual  ten  per  cent,  royalty,  bearing  all  expenses  of  the 
publication  myself,  the  copyright  to  go  to  the  estate  of  the 
deceased  authoress.  The  book  was  admirably  and  fittingly 
illustrated  by  a rising  young  artist,  named  Dallas,  the 
husband  of  Mary  Kyle  Dallas,  the  well-known  writer  in 
Bonner’s  Ledger. 

Before  the  book  was  published,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitcher, 
who,  after  his  wife’s  death,  had  become  a Roman  Catholic 
priest,  came  to  me  with  a proposition  to  sell  out  all  the 
right,  title  and  interest  for  a specified  amount,  which,  if  I 
remember  right,  was  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars.  I 
considered  it  a very  safe  venture  at  the  time,  and  the  result 
showed  that  I did  not  misjudge,  as  something  more  than  a 
hundred  thousand  copies  have  been  sold. 

The  “ Widow  Bedott  Papers”  is  a live  book  to-day, 
having  taken  a permanent  place  in  the  humorous  literature 
of  the  country.  Since  I commenced  these  reminiscences  a 
friend  of  mine*  somewhat  familiar  with  the  literature  of 
the  day,  writes  me  as  follows  : 

“Widow  Bedott  is  one  of  our  household  gods,  and  in  this 
wise.  Nearly  twenty  years  ago  my  mother  was  something  of  au 
invalid,  inclined  to  be  melancholy  and  depressed  in  spirits, 
although  her  home  and  surroundings  were  very  happy.  Yet  the 
thought  of  declining  health  and  leaving  a family  of  children,  and 
perhaps  too  much  ‘ Doddridge’s  Rise  and  Progress  of  Religion  in 
the  Soul,’  Jeremy  Taylor’s  ‘ Holy  Living  and  Dying,’  Baxter’s 
‘ Saints’  Everlasting  Rest,’  and  the  like  kind  of  reading  had  a 
visibly  gloomy  effect  upon  her. 

“ She  had  many  of  the  best  doctors,  and  they  all  disagreed  in 
locating  any  disease,  but  all  agreed  she  was  ‘run  down.’  One  of 
them  said  and  prescribed — ‘ Get  her  to  read  cheerful  books.  Get 
Widow  Bedott.  Let  her  see  things  that  will  make  her  laugh  and 
get  the  mind  working  in  different  channels.’  We  followed  the 
doctor’s  advice.  Father  got  the  book,  we  read  it  aloud,  we  all 
laughed  to  split,  and  the  effect  on  mother  was  magical.  She  im- 
proved, and  is  well  and  hearty  to-day,  and  is  now  seventy-six 


* George  C.  White. 


MIRIAM  BERRY  WHITCIIER. 


417 


years  old.  So,  dear  friend,  you  see  what  we  owe  you,  and  the 
good  you  have  done,  and  how  ‘a  good  name  is  better  than  great 
riches.’  ” 

The  following  is  the  opening  chapter  of  the  Widow 
Bedott  Papers. 

“ He  was  a wonderful  hand  to  moralize,  husband  was,  ’specially 
after  he  begun  to  enjoy  poor  health.  He  made  an  observation 
once  when  he  was  in  one  of  his  poor  turns,  that  I never  shall  for- 
get the  longest  day  I live.  He  says  to  me  one  winter  evenin’  as 
we  was  a settin’  by  the  fire,  I was  a knittin’  (I  was  always  a won- 
derful great  knitter)  and  he  was  a smokin’  (he  was  a master  hand 
to  smoke,  though  the  doctor  used  to  tell  him  he’d  be  better  off  to 
let  tobacker  alone  ; when  he  was  well,  used  to  take  his  pipe  and 
smoke  a spell  after  he’d  got  the  chores  done  up,  and  when  lie 
wa’n’t  well,  used  to  smoke  the  biggest  part  o’  the  time).  Well, 
he  took  his  pipe  out  of  his  mouth  and  turned  towards  me,  and  I 
knowed  something  was  cornin’,  for  he  had  a pertikkeler  way  of 
lookin’  round  when  he  was  gwine  to  say  anything  oncommon. 
Weil,  he  says  to  me,  says  he  ‘Silly,’  (my  name  was  Prissilly 
naterally,  but  he  ginerally  called  me  ‘ Silly,’  cause  ’twas  handier, 
you  know).  Well,  he  says  to  me,  says  he,  ‘Silly,’  and  he  looked 
pretty  sollem,  I tell  you,  he  had  a sollem  countenance  naterally — 
and  after  he  got  to  be  deacon  ’twas  more  so,  but  since  he’d  lost 
his  health  he  looked  sollemer  than  ever,  and  certingly  you  wouldent 
wonder  at  it  if  you  knowed  how  much  he  underwent.  He  was 
troubled  with  a wonderful  pain  in  his  chest,  and  amazin’ weakness 
in  the  spine  of  his  back,  besides  the  pleurissy  in  the  side,  and 
having  the  ager  a considerable  part  of  the  time,  and  bein’ 
broke  of  his  rest  o’  nights  ’cause  he  was  so  put  to  ’t  for  breath 
when  he  laid  down.  Why  it’s  an  onaccountable  fact  that  when 
that  man  died  he  hadent  seen  a well  day  in  fifteen  year,  though 
■when  he  was  married  and  for  five  or  six  year  after  I shouldeut 
desire  to  see  a ruggeder  man  than  what  he  was.  But  the  time 
I’m  speakin’  of  he’d  been  out  o’  health  nigh  upon  ten  year,  and  O 
dear  sakes!  how  he  had  altered  since  the  first  time  I even  see 
him!  That  wTas  to  a quiltin’  to  Squire  Smith's  a spell  afore  Sally 
was  married.  I’d  no  idee  then  that  Sal  Smith  was  a gwine  to  be 
married  to  Sam  Pendergrass.  Se’d  ben  keepin’  company  with 
Mose  Hewlitt,  for  better’n  a year,  and  everybody  said  that  was  a 
settled  thing,  and  lo  and  behold ! all  of  a sudding  she  up  and  took 
18* 


418 


MIRIAM  BERRY  WIIITCHER. 


Sam  Pendergrass.  Well,  that  was  the  first  time  I ever  see  my  hus- 
band, and  if  anybody’d  a told  me  then  that  I should  ever  marry 
him,  I should  a said — but  lawful  sakes  ! I most  forgot,  I was 
gwine  to  tell  you  what  he  said  to  me  that  evenin’  and  when  a body 
begins  to  tell  a thing  I believe  in  finishin’  on’t  some  time  or  other. 
Some  folks  have  a way  of  talkin’  round  and  round  and  round  for. 
evermore,  and  never  cornin’  to  the  pint.  Now  there’s  Miss  Jin- 
kins,  she  that  was  Poll  Bingham  afore  she  was  married,  she  is  the 
tejusest  individooal  to  tell  a story  that  ever  I see  in  all  my  born 
days.  But  I was  a gwine  to  tell  you  what  husband  said.  He 
says  to  me  says  he,  ‘Silly,’  says  I,  ‘What?’  I dident  say 
‘ What,  Hezekier  ?’  for  I dident  like  his  name.  The  first  time 
I ever  heard  it  I near  killed  myself  a laffin.  ‘ Hezekier  Bedott,’ 
says  I,  ‘well,  I would  give  up  if  I had  sich  a name,’  but  then 
you  know  I had  no  moie  idee  o’  marryin’  the  feller  than  you 
have  this  minnit  o’  marryin’  the  governor.  I s’pose  you  think 
it’s  curus  we  should  a named  our  oldest  son  Hezekier.  Well, 
we  done  it  to  please  father  and  mother  Bedott,  it’s  father 
Bedott’s  name,  and  he  and  mother  Bedott  both  used  to  think  that 
names  had  ought  to  go  down  from  gineration  to  giueration.  But 
we  always  called  him  Kier,  you  know.  Speakin’  o’  Kier,  he  is  a 
blessin,’  ain’t  he  ? and  I ain’t  the  only  one  that  thinks  so,  I guess. 
Now  don’t  you  never  tell  nobody  that  I said  so,  but  between  you 
and  me  I rather  guess  that  if  Kezier  Winkle  thinks  she  is  a gwine 
to  ketch  Kier  Bedott  she  is  a leetle  out  of  her  reckonin’.  But  I 
was  going  to  tell  what  husband  said.  He  says  to  me,  says  he, 

‘ Silly,’  I says,  says  I,  ‘ What  ?’  If  I dident  say  ‘ what  ’ 
when  he  said  ‘ Silly,’  he'd  a kept  on  saying  ‘Silly,’  from  time 
to  eternity.  He  always  did,  because,  you  know,  he  wanted  me  to 
pay  pertikkeler  attention,  and  I ginerally  did;  no  woman  was  ever 
more  attentive  to  her  husband  than  what  I was.  Well,  he  says  to 
me,  says  he,  ‘Silly.’  Says  I,  ‘What?’  though  I’d  no  idee  what 
he  was  gwine  to  say,  dident  know  but  what  ’twas  something 
about  his  sufferings,  though  he  wa’n’t  apt  to  complain,  but  he 
frequently  used  to  remark  that  he  wouldent  wish  his  worst  enemy 
to  suffer  one  minnit  as  he  did  all  the  time,  but  that  can’t  be  called 
grumbliu’ — think  it  can?  Why,  I’ve  seen  him  in  sitivations  when 
you’d  a thought  no  mortal  could  a helped  grumblin’  but  he  dident. 
He  and  me  went  once  in  the  dead  o’  winter  in  a one  boss  slay  out 
to  Boonville  to  see  a sister  o’  hisen.  You  know  the  snow  is 
amazin’  deep  in  that  section  o’  the  kentry.  Well,  the  boss  got 
stuck  in  one  o’  them  are  flambergasted  snow-banks,  and  there  we 


GEORGE  D.  PRENTICE, 


419 


sot,  onable  to  stir,  and  to  cap  all,  while  we  was  a sittin’  there 
husband  was  took  with  a dretful  crick  in  his  back.  Now  that  was 
what  I calla  perdickerment,  don’t  you  ? Most  men  would  a swore, 
but  husband  dident.  He  only  said,  says  he,  ‘ Consarn  it.’  How  did 
we  get  out,  did  you  ask  ? Why  we  might  a been  sittin’ there  to  this 
day  fur  as  I know,  if  there  hadent  a happened  to  come  along  a mess 
o’  men  in  a double  team  and  they  hysted  us  out.  But  I wasgwine 
to  tell  you  that  observation  o’  hisen.  Says  he  to  me,  says  he, 
* Silly,’  (I  could  see  by  the  light  o’  the  lire,  there  dident  happen 
to  be  no  candle  burnin’,  if  I don’t  disremember,  though  my  mem- 
ory is  sometimes  ruther  forgitful,  but  I know  we  wa’n’t  apt  to 
burn  candles  exceptin’  when  we  had  company)  I could  see  by  the 
light  of  the  fire  that  his  mind  was  oncommon  solemnized.  Says 
he  tome,  says  he,  ‘Silly.’  Isays  to  him,  says  I,  ‘What?’  He 
says  to  me,  says  he,  ‘ We're  all  poor  critters  /’ 


GEORGE  D.  PRENTICE  (Prenticiana). 

Prentice  and  the  Louisville  Journal — Brilliant  wit  in 
paragraphs  — A few  Specimen  Bricks — Encourages 
young  Writers — Author  first  meets  Prentice — Pren- 
tice defies  Mike  Walsh — “ You  have  skinned  me 
from  the  crown  of  my  head  to  the  sole  of  my  feet” 
— “ I cannot  kill  a disarmed  man  ” — Prentice  gives 
Whittier  his  first  start — “ We’ve  shared  each  other's 
smiles  and  tears ” 

rpHE  success  which  followed  the  publication  of  Fanny 
EenTs  “ Fern  Leaves  ” and  ShillabePs  “Mrs.  Parting- 
ton ” induced  me  to  propose  to  the  late  George  D.  Prentice 
to  make  a collection  of  the  witty  sayings  which  had  eman- 
ated daily  for  nearly  forty  years  in  the  columns  of  the  Louis- 
ville Journal,  of  which  Mr.  Prentice  was  editor  in  chief. 

There  was  hardly  a secular  newspaper  in  the  country 
which  did  not  habitually  copy  the  brilliant  and  witty  hits, 
continuously  made  by  this  noted  paragraphist,  which  gave 
him  a wide  reputation. 


420 


GEORGE  D.  PRENTICE. 


Mr.  Evart  A.  Duykinck,  in  his  Cyclopedia  of  American 
Literature,  said,  as  long  ago  as  1855: 

“ If  these  Prenticiana  of  the  editor  were  collected  and  pub- 
lished with  appropriate  notes,  they  would  form  an  amusing  and 
instructive  commentary  on  the  management  of  elections,  news- 
paper literature  and  political  oratory,  of  permanent  value  as  a 
memorial  of  the  times.” 

Mr.  Prentice  accepted  my  proposition,  and  the  hook 
was  published  in  the  year  1859,  under  the  title  of  te  Pren- 
ticiana ; or,  Wit  and  Humor  in  Paragraphs. ” 

In  introducing  the  volume  to  the  public  the  author,  in 
his  preface,  writes  : 

“Though  I have  been  a public  writer  from  my  boyhood,  I 
offer  this  volume  to  my  fellow-citizens  with  a diffidence  almost 
painful.  It  is  made  up  of  a portion  of  the  paragraphs  that  I have 
written  for  the  Louisville  Journal  during  the  last  twenty-nine  years, 
and  a few  of  those  written  for  the  New  York  Ledger  within  the 
last  two  years. 

“ A long  time  ago  I was  urged  often  and  earnestly  to  publish 
such  a volume  as  this  or  permit  one  to  be  published,  but  I uni- 
formly declined.  I should  decline  still,  but  for  the  knowledge 
that,  if  I do  not  publish  my  own  paragraphs  others  will,  making 
the  selections  with  far  less  regard  for  the  feelings  of  meu  who  are 
now  my  friends  than  I choose  to  exercise. 

“Iam  as  well  aware  as  any  one  can  be,  that  there  are  just 
grounds  for  grave  objection  to  this  book.  Probably,  in  many 
things  it  contains,  little  else  than  partisan  bitterness  will  be  found. 
Still  I have  carefully  excluded,  out  of  deference  to  the  sensibili- 
ties of  persons  whom  I uow  esteem  and  love,  thousands  of  the  very 
passages  which  at  the  time  of  their  appearance,  did  most  to  give 
to  the  Louisville  Journal  its  fame  or  notoriety.  In  many  of  the 
passages  here  given,  I have  suppressed  names,  in  order  that 
there  may  be  no  occasion  for  offense.  In  regard  to  my  contempo- 
raries of  the  press,  who  are  referred  to,  I will  say,  in  justice  both 
to  myself  and  to  them,  that  not  more  than  half  of  the  blows  struck 
between  them  and  me  were  mine.  I do  not  think  that  I have  uow 
a feeling  of  personal  enmity  toward  any  member  of  the  press. 

“ Many,  and  perhaps  most,  of  the  paragraphs  here  collected  re- 


GEORGE  D.  PRENTICE. 


421 


late  to  the  men  and  measures  of  former  times,  but  I believe  they 
all  explain  themselves.  I have  no  doubt,  however,  that  a very 
considerable  proportion  of  them,  which  perhaps,  from  partisan 
partiality,  were  deemed  ‘ good  hits  ’ at  the  time,  will,  now  that  the 
occasion  which  called  them  forth  has  passed,  be  read  with  com- 
paratively little  interest.  I kuowthat  such  things  do  not  keep 
well. 

“ It  is  of  course  impossible  for  me  to  remember  how  far  I may 
in  some  trifles  have  been  indebted  to  suggestions  that  I found  in 
the  writings  of  others;  but  I believe  that  all  which  I have  here 
given  is  my  own.  Not  a few  paragraphs  have  been  keeping  their 
place  in  the  newspaper  press  for  many  years,  no  one  seeming  to 
have  any  knowledge  of  their  origin,  and  very  likely  they  are  not 
worth  my  reclaiming. 

“ The  reader  will  see  that,  occasionally,  to  express  a thought 
or  fancy  or  a conceit  more  conveniently,  I have  put  the  words  in 
the  form  of  a dialogue,  purporting  sometimes  to  be  between  two 
politicians,  sometimes  a man  and  his  wife,  etc.  ; but  such  para- 
graphs are  not  less  original,  not  less  my  own  than  the  rest. 

“ The  publishers  are  responsible  for  the  title  of  this  book.” 

A few  “specimen  bricks”  of  these  witty  paragraphs 
are  here  submitted. 

“A  female  correspondent  suggests  a condition  on  which  she 
will  give  us  a kiss.  We  feel  in  duty  bound  to  say  to  her,  that 
kissing  is  a thing,  that,  at  every  proper  opportunity,  we  set  our 
face  against.” 

“A  western  editor  boasts  that  his  state  furnishes  a greater 
quantity  of  oats  than  any  other  in  the  Union.  He  forgets  to  say 
whether  she  furnishes  a greater  number  of  asses  to  eat  them.” 

“A  man  recently  got  married  in  Kentucky  one  day  and  hung 
himself  the  next.  No  doubt  he  wanted  to  try  the  varieties  of 
noose  to  see  which  he  liked  best.” 

“It  is  exceedingly  bad  husbandry  to  harrow  up  the  feelings 
of  your  wife.” 

“The  question  is  often  discussed  whether  the  savages  enjoy 
life.  We  suppose  they  do,  as  they  always  seem  anxious  to  take  it, 
when  they  get  a chance.” 

“ A letter  from  China  says  that  the  Chinese  have  succeeded  by 
the  skill  of  their  cultivators  in  producing  a new  and  delicious 


422 


GEORGE  D.  PRENTICE. 


variety  of  tea.  We  suppose  they  have  accomplished  this  by 
crossing  their  tens . ” 

“ A romantic  poet  sends  us  some  stanzas  addressed  to  a young 
woman  and  commencing — 4 We  met  as  meet  the  day  and  night.’ 
We  can’t  encourage  amalgamation.” 

“A  man  that  marries  a widow  is  bound  to  give  up  smoking 
and  chewing.  If  she  gives  up  her  weeds  for  him,  he  should^give 
up  the  weed  for  her.” 

44  Two  cousins  named  Crickett,  were  married  last  week  in  Jef- 
ferson County.  We  are  opposed  to  cricket  matches.” 

44  Some  publishers  of  periodicals  publish  on  white  paper,  some 
on  blue  and  some  on  yellow.  A large  portion  of  the  political 
should  by  all  means  be  of  a color  that  won't  show  dirt.” 

4 4 4 Will  you  have  the  kindness  to  hand  me  the  butter  before 
you?’  said  a gentleman  politely  at  table  to  an  ancient  maiden. 

4 4 4 1 am  no  waiter,  sir.’ 

4 4 4 Well,  I think  you  have  been  waiting  a long  time.’” 

The  publication  of  this  volume  brought  me  into  very 
pleasant  relations  with  this  famous  editor,  who  besides  being 
a prounounced  political  writer  was  also  a poet  of  no  mod- 
erate claims ; in  addition  to  this  he  was  always  the  encour- 
aging friend  of  every  young  author  of  literary  promise. 
It  can  be  said  of  Mr.  Prentice  that  he  made  and  unmade 
poets  and  prose  writers  as  well  as  politicians  and  statesmen. 
He  it  was  that  first  brought  to  public  notice  that  sweet 
poetess  Amelia  B.  Welby  who  wrote  so  many  beautiful 
poems  for  his  columns,  under  the  signature  of  “ Amelia;” 
also  Sally  M.  Bryan,  John  J.  Piatt  and  Catherine  A.  War- 
field.  The  latter  was  introduced  to  me  in  a note  from  Mr. 
Prentice,  he  sending  me  at  the  same  time  the  MS.  of  her 
wonderful  romance,  “ The  Household  of  Bouverie/’  which 
is  referred  to  elsewhere. 

Many  persons  surmised  that  Mr.  Prentice  himself  wrote 
the  poems  signed  u Amelia,”  until  he  denied  it  one  day, 
by  saying,  “ I recognize  their  priceless  beauty  too  well  to 
spoil  it  in  that  way.  I never  wrote  a word  in  any  of  her 
writings.  On  the  few  occasions  when  she  had  used  a word 
which  I would  not  have  used,  I sent  her  MS.  back  with  the 


GEORGE  D.  PRENTICE. 


423 


defective  word  marked,  and  she  corrected  the  diction  her- 
self. I never  once  aided  or  had  occasion  to  aid.” 

I first  met  Mr.  Prentice  in  1860,  soon  after  the  publi- 
cation of  his  volume,  when  I had  the  pleasure  of  introduc- 
ing him  at  the  Century  Club  and  elsewhere  in  literary 
circles. 

He  was  an  excellent  talker,  and  being  a thorough 
Greek  and  Latin  scholar,  as  well  as  French  and  German, 
he  was  at  home  among  his  favorite  poets,  Virgil,  Byron 
and  Shelley.  His  favorite  German  author  was  Jean  Paul 
Richter  ; he  always  read  everything  the  latter  wrote,  and 
his  advice  to  young  writers  was  to  adoj^t  Richter’s  style, 
if  they  must  have  a model. 

Mr.  Prentice,  like  Horace  Greeley,  was  passionately  de- 
voted to  the  political  fortunes  of  Henry  Clay.  Each  of 
them  have  written  most  interesting  biographies  of  that 
eminent  Kentucky  statesman. 

At  one  time,  Mike  Walsh,  a notorious  and  prominent 
Loco  Foco  (the  name  given  to  the  Democrats  in  those  days) 
by  some  action  on  his  part  provoked  a quarrel  with  the 
Louisville  editor;  for  which  he  was  handled  without  gloves 
in  the  witty  and  sarcastic  columns  of  Mr.  Prentice’s  paper. 
Mike  Walsh  was  a member  of  Congress  from  Hew  York 
City,  at  the  time,  and  a brave  but  illiterate  man.  Mr.  Pren- 
tice happened  to  be  in  Washington  during  a session  of  Con- 
gress when  he  met  Walsh  at  a dinner  party  ; the  former 
advanced  toward  and  was  about  to  offer  his  hand  to  the  Irish 
politician,  when  the  latter  fixing  his  piercing  eyes  on  him 
without  offering  his  hand,  exclaimed,  “You  are  George  D. 
Prentice,  are  you  ?”  Mr.  Prentice  bowed  in  assent,  when 
Walsh  said,  “ You  must  know,  sir,  that  I like  you,  although 
you  have  skinned  me  from  the  crown  of  my  head  to  the 
sole  of  my  feet ; your  instrument  was  so  sharp  and  so  skill- 
fully used  that  the  operation  was  rather  pleasant  than  other- 
wise.” Of  course  Mr.  Prentice  could  not  help  liking  his 
political  foe  after  this  keen  and  delicate  compliment. 

About  this  time  an  editor  of  one  of  the  Louisville 


424 


GEORGE  D.  PRENTICE. 


papers  who  had  become  frenzied  by  a stinging  editorial 
thrust  in  the  Louisville  Journal , with  the  addition  of  copi- 
ous drafts  of  the  well  known  Kentucky  Bourbon,  fired  a 
shot  at  Mr.  Prentice  without  the  slightest  warning,  wound- 
ing him  near  the  heart.  Mr.  Prentice  instantly  threw  him 
to  the  ground,  disarmed  him,  and  with  knife  in  hand, 
held  him  like  a vise  in  his  grasp.  A large  crowd  gathered 
around  the  scene.  Nearly  every  one  of  them  cried  out, 
“ Kill  him,  kill  him  ! ” Mr.  Prentice  at  once  let  go  his 
hold  and  said,  “ I cannot  kill  a disarmed  man.” 

About  the  year  1867  Mr.  Bonner  engaged  Mr.  Prentice 
to  write  for  the  New  York  Ledger  once  a week  a column 
under  the  heading  of  “ Wit  and  Humor,”  which  was  con- 
tinued to  the  time  of  his  death. 

One  of  Mr.  Prentice’s  literary  friends  in  speaking  of 
Prenticiana  says  : 

“We  see  the  phenomenon  of  the  poet,  the  philosopher  and  the 
politician  combined  in  one.  Falstaff-like,  he  is  not  only  witty  in 
himself,  ‘ but  the  cause  that  wit  is  in  other  men.’  So  popular  is  he 
as  a paragraphist  that  a volume  of  his  wit  and  wisdom  has  been 
widely  circulated.  The  many-sided  mind  that  made  the  masterly 
editor  and  politician  has  given  to  Mr.  Prentice  that  universality 
of  genius  that  can  alone  constitute  the  truly  great  poet — the  pos- 
session of  that  common  sense  which  corrects  the*  erratic  caprices 
of  genius,  and  gives  its  true  weight  and  value  to  every  subject  and 
idea.  Such  is  the  kaleidoscopic  nature  of  the  brain  of  George  D. 
Prentice.  His  pathos  is  counter- balanced  by  his  humor;  his  sub 
limity  is  matched  by  his  wit;  the  keen  subtlety  of  his  sarcasm 
finds  its  counterpoise  in  that  overwhelming  fountain  of  sentiment, 
in  whose  translucent  depths,  gems  of  beauty  dance  forever.  Nt> 
proposition  is  too  broad  for  his  comprehension,  no  abstraction  too 
evasive,  no  flower  of  fancy  too  delicate,  and  no  microcosm  too 
minute  for  his  inspection.  In  wit  he  catches  a joke  in  the  very 
seed,  as  it  were,  before  it  blossoms  into  a laugh.” 

It  is  not  generally  known  that  Mr.  Prentice  gave  oui 
Quaker  poet,  John  Gr.  Whittier,  the  first  start  in  his  liter- 
ary career.  In  a recent  conversation,  the  latter  said  : 


GEORGE  D.  PRENTICE. 


425 


“ My  first  real  work  was  done  when  George  D.  Prentice  was 
editor  of  the  Hartford  Review  ; although  1 had  written  consider- 
able before,  I wrote  and  sent  him  a few  things  and  he  encouraged 
me,  when  he  recommended  me  to  take  his  place.  The  publisher 
met  me  and  I went  down,  and  for  two  years  I remained  with  the 
Review .” 

Mr.  Prentice  was  a great  sufferer  from  a disease  called 
“ chorea  scriptorum,”  sometimes  called  the  writer’s  cramp, 
which  shows  itself  only  when  the  hand  tries  to  write.  For 
a long  time  after  this  trouble  began  he  tvas  able  to  write 
many  words  with  the  thumb  pressed  towards  the  index 
finger  when  the  pen  would  fly  from  him  as  if  some  one  had 
struck  it. 

One  morning  not  long  before  his  death,  while  suffering 
in  this  way,  Mr.  Prentice  composed  a beautiful  song,  for 
his  faithful  friend  Dr.  T.  S.  Bell,  who  had  been  his  family 
physician  for  nearly  forty  years.  He  stepped  over  to  the 
Doctor’s  office  and  asked  him  to  write  something  for  him, 
saying,  “It  is  for  you  and  your  wife.” 

Mr.  Prentice  then  dictated  the  following  beautiful  lines, 
which  were  afterwards  set  to  music  by  a distinguished 
composer. 

“ We’ve  shared  each  other’s  smiles  and  tears, 

Through  years  of  wedded  life  ; 

And  love  has  blessed  those  fleeting  years — 

My  own  and  cherished  wife. 

“ And  if  at  times  the  storm’s  dark  shroud 
Has  rested  in  the  air, 

Love’s  beaming  sun  has  kissed  the  cloud, 

And  left  the  rainbow  there. 

“ In  all  our  hopes,  in  all  our  dreams, 

Love  is  forever  nigh, 

A blossom  in  our  path  it  seems, 

A sunbeam  in  our  sky. 


426 


CHARLES  G.  H ALPINE. 


“For  all  our  joy  of  brightest  hue, 

Grows  brighter  in  love’s  smile, 

And  there’s  no  grief  our  hearts  e’er  knew 
That  love  could  not  beguile.” 


CHAELES  Gr.  H ALPINE  (Miles  O’Eeilly.) 

A Young  Irish  Poet  appears — Chuck  full  of  Wit  and 
Humor — lyrics  by  the  letter  “ II” — “ Haul  down 
the  Starry  Flag  " — Sambo's  right  to  be  kilt — Private 
Miles  O'  Reilly  settles  it — Major  Halpine  warns  Lin- 
coln— A night  ride  with  Miles  O'Reilly — “ Oh!  Chem- 
isette ! the  fairest  yet  " — Miles  O'  Reilly  elected  Regis- 
ter of  Hew  York — Halpine's  unexpected  Death — 
Forney's  Tribute  to  his  Memory . 

TN  the  autumn  of  1854  a fine-looking  young  man  brought 
■*“  me  a letter  of  introduction  from  B.  P.  Shillaber,  of 
the  Boston  Post.  The  substance  of  the  letter  gave  me  to 
understand  that  the  bearer  was  an  educated  young  Irish- 
man who  had  been  employed  on  the  Post  and  also  on  the 
Carpet  Bag , a weekly  humorous  paper  on  which  both  of 
them  had  been  associated. 

The  letter  also  stated  that  the  bearer  was  not  only  a 
brilliant  writer  on  any  subject,  but  a born  poet  and  a real 
genius  in  wit  and  humor. 

After  reading  the  letter  I congratulated  Charles  G. 
Halpine,  for  such  was  his  name — better  known  a few  years 
later  as  Miles  O’Reilly — on  being  in  possession  of  so  much 
literary  talent.  Young  Halpine  disclaimed  any  of  the 
attributes  which  the  letter  conveyed  ; he  thought  it  might 
be  one  of  Mrs.  Partington’s  last  jokes. 

Mr.  Halpine,  who  at  that  time  was  about  twenty-five 
years  old,  handed  me  the  MS.  of  some  verses,  which  he 
offered  to  let  me  have  without  copyright,  if  I would  risk 
an  edition  at  my  own  expense.  I liked  the  man  and  his 


CHAKLES  G.  HALPINE. 


427 


verses,  and  published  a small  edition  of  them  under  the 
title  of  “ Lyrics,  hy  the  letter  IL” 

The  book  was  published  anonymously,  for  the  purpose, 
he  said,  of  testing  the  public  pulse  as  to  his  poetic  talent, 
if  he  had  any. 

This  little  volume  of  poems  was  the  beginning  of  Hal- 
pine^s  brilliant  literary,  military  and  political  career.  The 
author  easily  found  employment  as  an  editorial  writer  on 
the  Herald , Tribune,  and  Times,  where  he  was  liberally 
paid  for  his  ably-written  editorials.  And  subsequently 
he  was  connected  with  several  weekly  semi-literary  papers. 
His  great  versatility  of  talent  enabled  him  to  write  on 
almost  any  subject.  He  was  a great  favorite  of  Horace 
Greeley,  and  indeed  for  that  matter,  of  both  Henry  J. 
Raymond  and  James  Gordon  Bennett. 

The  impulsive  young  Irish  poet  on  one  occasion  sent 
the  editor  of  the  Tribune  the  following  verses,  without  any 
clue  to  the  authorship  : 

[“The  United  States  cutter  Morris  has  been  ordered  by  Presi- 
dent Franklin  Pierce  to  carry  Anthony  Burns  from  Boston  to 
Virginia,  to  be  there  enslaved  for  ever.”] 

“Hail  to  the  Stars  and  Stripes  ! 

The  boastful  flag  all  hail  1 
The  tyrant  trembles  now, 

And  at  the  sight  grows  pale  ; 

The  Old  World  groans  in  pain, 

And  turns  her  eye  to  see, 

Beyond  the  Western  Main, 

This  emblem  of  the  Free. 

“ Hail  to  the  Stripes  and  Stars  ! 

Hope  beams  in  every  ray, 

And  through  the  dungeon  bars 
Points  out  a brighter  way. 

The  Old  World  sees  the  light 
That  shall  her  cells  illume, 

And,  shrinking  back  to  night, 

Oppression  reads  her  doom. 


428 


CHARLES  Gr.  1IALPINE. 


“ All  hail  the  flaunting  lie  I 

The  Stars  grow  pale  and  dim — 

The  Stripes  are  bloody  scars, 

A lie  the  flaunting  hymn  ! 

It  shields  a pirate’s  deck, 

It  binds  a man  in  chains, 

And  round  the  captive's  neck 
Its  folds  are  bloody  stains. 

“ Tear  down  the  flaunting  lie  ! 

Half-mast  the  starry  flag  ! 

Insult  no  sunny  sky 

With  this  polluted  rag  ! 

Destroy  it,  ye  who  can  ! 

Deej)  sink  it  in  the  waves  ! 

It  bears  a fellow-man 
To  groan  with  fellow-slaves.” 

In  the  first  volume  of  Horace  Greeley^s  “ History  of  the 
American  Conflict  ” the  above  song  is  given  as  a sample  of 
the  spirit  aroused  by  the  recent  United  States  law  returning 
fugitive  slaves  to  their  masters.  For  years  Mr.  Greeley  was 
charged  with  being  the  author  of  the  verses,  and  as  late 
as  1872,  when  he  ran  for  President,  the  Southern  politi- 
cians repeated  the  story  that  he  originated  the  “Flaunting 
Lie.” 

When  the  war  broke  out  in  1861,  Halpine  sided  with  the 
Union  army,  rendering  good  service  with  both  tongue  and 
pen,  thus  illustrating  in  his  own  person  the  apothegm  “ the 
pen  is  mightier  than  the  sword  for  although  he  was  a 
brave  and  efficient  Federal  officer,  one  song  of  his  alone 
was  probably  more  effectual  in  inducing  the  Irish  element 
of  the  country  to  enlist  in  the  Union  army,  than  all  the 
recruiting  officers  in  the  Empire  city. 

It  is  well-known  that  negroes,  especially  the  liberated 
slaves,  were  very  repugnant  to  Irishmen,  who,  as  a rule, 
would  neither  fight  with  a negro,  or  fight  for  his  freedom. 

During  Major  Halpine's  army  life  in  the  South,  he 
assumed,  in  his  correspondence  to  the  Northern  papers,  the 


CHARLES  G.  IIALPINE. 


429 


soubriquet  of  “Private  Miles  (FReilly,”  and  was  for  a long 
time  believed  to  be  a genuine  Milesian  private  soldier. 

It  was  while  playing  this  role- that  he  wrote  the  following 
song,  which  became  very  popular  among  the  Irish,  and  pro- 
duced a revulsion  in  the  feelings  towards  the  contrabands, 
who  had  been  armed  by  the  Federal  authorities. 

“SAMBO’S  RIGHT  TO  BE  KILT. 

“ Some  say  it  is  a burniu’  shame 
To  make  the  naygurs  fight, 

An’  that  the  thrade  o’  bein’  kilt 
Belongs  but  to  the  white; 

But  as  for  me,  upon  my  sowl, 

So  liberal  are  we  here, 

I’ll  let  Sambo  be  murthered  in  place  o’  myself 
On  every  day  in  the  year. 

On  every  day  in  the  year,  boys, 

An’  every  hour  in  the  day, 

The  right  to  be  kilt  I’ll  divide  wid  him, 

An’  divil  a word  I’ll  say. 

44  In  battle’s  wild  commotion, 

I shouldn’t  at  all  object, 

If  Sambo’s  body  should  stop  a ball 
That  was  cornin’  for  me  direct; 

An’  the  prod  of  a Southern  bag’net, 

So  liberal  are  we  here, 

I’ll  resign  and  let  Sambo  take  it, 

On  every  day  in  the  year. 

On  every  day  in  the  year,  boys, 

An’  wid  none  of  your  nasty  pride, 

All  my  right  in  a Southern  bag’net  prod, 

Wid  Sambo  I’ll  divide. 

44  The  men  who  object  to  Sambo 
Should  take  his  place  an’  fight, 

An’  its  better  to  have  a naygur’s  hue, 

Than  a liver  that’s  wake  an’  white ; 

Though  Sambo’s  black  as  the  ace  o’  spades, 

His  finger  a trigger  can  pull, 


430 


CHARLES  G.  HALPINE. 


An’  his  eye  runs  straight  on  the  barrel  sights, 

From  under  its  thatch  o’  wool. 

So  hear  me  all,  boys,  darlin’s! 

Don’t  think  I’m  tippin’  you  chaff, 

The  right  to  be  kilt  I’ll  divide  wid  him, 

And  give  him  the  largest  half ! ” 

Major  Halpine  was  at  one  time  during  the  war  quar- 
tered at  Washington,  and  while  there  on  the  staff  of  Gene- 
ral Halleck,  then  Commander-in-Chief,  he  had  occasion 
frequently  to  call  on  President  Lincoln.  On  one  occasion 
the  following  interview  occurred  :* 

“ ‘ There  are  two  dangers,  therefore,’  I wound  up  by  saying  ; 
‘ the  danger  of  deliberate  political  assassination,  and  the  mere 
brute  violence  of  insanity.’ 

“Mr.  Lincoln  had  heard  me  with  a smile,  his  hands  still 
locked  across  his  knees,  and  his  body  still  rocking  back  and  forth 
— the  common  indication  thas  he  was  amused. 

“ ‘ Now,  as  to  political  assassination,’  he  said  ; ‘ do  you  think 
the  Richmond  people  would  like  to  have  Hanibal  Hamlin  here 
instead  of  myself  ? In  that  alternative,  I have  an  insurance  on  my 
life  worth  half  the  prairie-land  of  Illinois.  And  besides  ’ — this 
more  gravely — ‘if  there  were  such  a plot  and  they  wanted  to  get 
at  me,  no  vigilance  could  keep  them  out.  We  are  so  mixed  up 
in  our  affairs,  that — no  matter  what  the  system  established — a con- 
spiracy to  assassinate,  if  such  there  were,  could  easily  obtain  a 
pass  to  see  me  for  any  one  or  more  of  its  instruments.  To  betray 
fear  of  this,  by  placing  guards,  and  so  forth,  would  only  be  to 
put  the  idea  into  their  heads,  and  perhaps  lead  to  the  very  result 
it  was  intended  to  prevent.  As  to  the  crazy  folks,  Major,  why  I 
must  only  take  my  chances — the  worst  crazy  people  I at  present 
fear  being  some  of  my  own  too  zealous  adherents.  That  there 
may  be  such  dangers  as  you  and  many  others  have  suggested  to 
me,  is  quite  possible  ; but  I guess  it  wouldn’t  improve  things 
any,  to  publish  that  we  were  afraid  of  them  in  advance.” 

Not  long  before  Mr.  Halpine^s  death  I had  occasion  to 
occupy  a state-room  with  him  on  one  of  the  Albany  night 
boats.  He  was  in  the  best  of  health  and  buoyant  spirits, 

* “From  Baked  Meats  of  the  Funeral,”  by  Miles  O’Reilly. 


CHARLES  G.  HALPINE. 


431 


and,  as  always,  a delightful  companion.  I remember  that 
although  much  fatigued  after  some  journeying,  I was  very 
sleepy,  but  sleep  and  rest  I knew  not.  He  was  continually 
bubbling  over  with  his  native  Irish  wit,  improvising  songs 
and  relating  laughable  anecdotes. 

I was  not  aware  until  that  night  that  he  was  troubled 
with  insomnia.  A few  days  later  I was  painfully  startled 
in  reading  in  the  morning  papers  the  sudden  and  unex- 
pected deatli  of  this  brilliant  man.  The  following  very  inter- 
esting account  of  the  sad  event  was  published  in  a bio- 
graphical sketch  of  Halpine  prefacing  his  poetical  works, 
which  were  edited  by  his  friend,  Robert  B.  Roosevelt,  and 
published  by  Harper  & Bros,  in  1869. 

“ Early  in  the  last  week  of  his  life  he  had  written  his  poem  com- 
memorative of  the  Irish  Legion,  and  on  his  final  Saturday  he  was 
at  the  office  of  the  Citizen  until  about  two  o’clock,  in  gayer  humor 
and  more  genial  mood  than  usual,  although  he  was  invariably  a 
charming  companion.  Later  he  was  attacked  with  violent  pain  in 
the  head  and  he  had  recourse  to  chloroform.  The  apothecary,  by 
a well-intentioned  but  unfortunate  error,  gave  him  a diluted  article 
which  had  uo  effect,  and  which  he  detected  as  deficient  in  strength. 
Then  he  sent  for  more,  and  under  the  delusion  that  it  also  was 
weak  or  adulterated,  while  it  was  actually  of  full  strength,  inhaled 
too  much  of  it  and  became  insensible.  Thus,  by  a mere  accident, 
a most  important  life  was  taken  away  from  t lie  public  at  its  period 
of  greatest  usefulness.  He  died  ere  more  than  half  his  natural 
term  of  activity  had  run,  at  the  age  of  thirty-nine,  at  a period 
when  his  faculties  were  in  their  most  perfect  development.” 

Some  of  the  poems  in  the  volume  referred  to  were  taken 
from  his  “ Lyrics  of  the  letter  H.”  There  are  a number 
of  omissions,  however  ; among  others  the  following  exquis- 
ite lyric,  with  which  the  latter  volume  opens  : 

“Oh,  Chemisette  ! the  fairest  yet 

That  e’er  hid  bosom  purer,  whiter  ! 

Thou  dost  not  kuow  what  envious  woe 
Thy  veiling  snow  hath  given  the  writer. 


432 


CnARLES  G.  HALPINE. 


u So  neatly  frilled — so  pluraply  filled  ! 

And  then  the  eyes  that  shine  above  it  1 
I sing — I long — nor  is  it  wrong — 

(At  least  in  song) — dear  girl  to  love  it  ! 

“ Sweet  Chemisette  ! the  coral  set, 

To  chain  thy  folds  in  gentle  duty, 

Fling  round  a glow  upon  the  snow 
To  heighten  so  thy  blushing  beauty; 

And  ne’er  before,  on  sea  or  shore, 

Did  coral  feel  a softer  billow — 

Nor  could  the  gold  around  it  rolled, 

Though  ten  times  told,  deserve  the  pillow  ! 

“ Oh,  Chemisette  ! below  thee  met, 

A rosy  ribbon  binds  her  boddice  ; 

And  in  her  mien  is  clearly  seen 

One  half  the  queen,  and  one  the  goddess. 

Her  voice  is  low,  how  sweet  its  flow ! — 

Her  upper  lip  disdains  the  under  ; 

Her  hair  is  like  dark  waves  that  strike 
A marble  cliff  and  rush  asunder. 

“Oh  ! ripening  grace  ! Oh  ! radiant  face  ! 

When  love  is  love,  it  knows  no  measure  ! 

Her  hands  are  small,  but  yet  can  call 
The  power  of  music  at  their  pleasure. 

And  as  they  peep  from  sleeves  of  deep 
Wide  guipure  lace,  ‘ la  mode  Uamilie ,’ 

Her  fingers  seem,  or  else  I dream, 

Like  stamens  in  the  bells  of  lilies.” 

Halpine  was  also  the  author  of  two  humorous  volumes 
entitled  “ Miles  O’Reilly,  his  book/’  and  “ Baked  Meats  of 
the  Funeral.” 

“ Miles  O’Reilly”  Halpine  became  so  popular  among  all 
classes  of  voters,  that  the  year  prior  to  his  death  he  was 
elected  to  the  important  and  lucrative  office  of  Register  of 
New  York,  by  a majority  of  over  50,000  over  the  Tammany 
nominee. 

Colonel  Forney,  in  his  Anecdotes  of  Public  Men,  in 


JOEL  CHANDLER  HARRIS. 


433 


printing  the  Lines  of  Miles  O'Reilly  on  the  Downfall  of 
Richmond  says,  “they  are  among  the  most  beautiful  pro- 
ductions in  the  English  language  ; recalling  the  handsome 
features  and  royal  gifts  of  Colonel  Charles  0.  Halpine, 
who  was  endeared  to  so  many  during  his  life  and  who 
is  still  so  sincerely  mourned."  The  following  closing  lines 
of  one  of  Mr.  H alpine's  most  beautiful  poems  were  written 
not  long  before  his  death. 

“Oh!  in  many  a night  of  sorrow, 

When  the  hours  have  no  relief, 

And  the  darkness  seems  to  borrow 
Deeper  shadows  from  our  grief — 

Then  again,  with  memory  toying, 

Comes  the  vision  of  the  past, 

And  on  these  our  thoughts  employing, 

Daylight  breaks  on  us  at  last.” 


JOEL  CHANDLER  HARRIS. 

Best  Delineator  of  Negro  Character — A Successful  Writer  of 
African  Humor — “ Uncle  Remus  " not  horn  in  Africa 
— Folk-lore  in  the  Old  Plantation — Squirrels,  Jay- 
birds, and  Wood-peckers — A Printing-Office  in  the 
Woods — General  Sherman  wipes  it  out — William  H. 
Seward  teaches  School  in  Georgia — Harris  meets  author 
of  Major  Jones ' Courtship — Charles  A.  Dana  and 
John  Bigelow — Wonderful  Tar  Baby  Story. 

TOEL  CHANDLER  HARRIS  has  recently  come  to 
^ the  front  as  the  very  best  delineator  of  Southern 
negro  character  which  the  country  has  developed.  His 
wonderful  “Tar  Baby"  and  other  dialectic  stories,  in 
which  the  shrewd  wit  and  sententious  sayings  of  “Uncle 
Remus"  are  given,  have  never  been  equaled.  The  negro 
dialect  as  depicted  by  him  being  true  to  the  very  life.  His 
19 


434 


JOEL  CIIANDLEU  HARRIS. 


sketches  have  been  copied  in  the  newspapers  throughout 
the  country,  and  have  been  read  with  pleasure  and  delight, 
especially  among  Southern  people  or  those  who  have  lived 
in  the  South. 

Mr.  Harris  has  become  a successful  writer,  not  only  of 
African  humor,  but,  as  far  as  I have  read,  he  pictures 
equally  well  the  life  and  characteristics  of  the  poor  whites 
in  the  South.  His  “ Teague  Poteet,”  recently  published 
in  the  Century , 1 consider  the  very  best  description  of  the 
“ Moonshiners  " and  other  kindred  characters  which  has 
yet  been  written. 

The  following  interesting  item,  which  originated  in  a 
Kansas  City  paper,  has  been  going  the  rounds  of  the  Press, 
until  it  is  believed  that  the  statement  made  is  literally 
true  : 

“Joel  Charles  Harris,  the  famous  humorist  of  the  Atlanta 
Constitution,  has  had  a strangely  romantic  career.  His  father 
was  a missionary,  and  it  was  at  a small  town  of  Booghia,  on  the 
Southern  coast  of  Africa,  that  Joel  was  born.  He  was  educated 
by  his  father  and  acquired  a wonderful  acquaintance  with  foreign 
languages.  He  is  an  adept  Sanskrit  scholar,  and  is  deeply  versed 
in  Hebraic  and  Buddhist  literature.  The  sweetly  quaint  legends 
of  Indian  and  Judean  mythology  have  found  their  way  into  his 
simple  Southern  tales,  and  the  spirit  of  his  philosophy  is  identical 
with  the  teachings  of  Moses  and  Buddha.” 

I have  had  the  best  of  opportunities  of  knowing  that 
all  the  Africa  Mr.  Harris  saw  when  he  was  born,  was  in 
the  State  of  Georgia. 

On  my  return  from  a visit  to  -Jefferson  Davis,  in  1880, 1 
stopped  over  in  Atlanta,  Georgia,  to  meet  Mr.  Harris  by 
appointment,  having  been  in  correspondence  with  him  con- 
cerning the  publication  of  a volume  to  be  made  up  of  his 
plantation  stories  which  had  appeared,  from  time  to  time, 
in  the  Atlanta  Constitution , of  which  paper  he  was  an 
associate  editor,  and  through  which  he  had,  unexpectedly, 
become  famous  by  his  folk-lore  sketches.  I found  Mr. 


JOEL  CHANDLER  HARRIS. 


435 


Harris  a very  agreeable  and  intelligent  gentleman,  although 
diffident  in  the  extreme.  Becoming  much  interested  in  my 
conversations  with  him,  I asked  him  to  tell  me  something 
about  himself. 

He  told  me  that  he  was  born  in  Eatonton,  Ga.,  in  the 
year  1848,  that  he  early  had  a great  desire,  or  as  he  ex- 
pressed it,  a desperate  ambition,  to  write  something  that 
might  appear  in  print.  The  people  who  lived  in  his 
native  town  seemed  to  be  very  much  interested  in  him,  and 
among  those  who  lost  no  opportunity  to  manifest  this  feel- 
ing was  Mr.  Joseph  A.  Turner,  whom  he  met  on  the  street 
one  day,  and  received  from  him  a copy  of  his  new  paper, 
called  The  Plantation , and  when  he  saw  Mr.  Turner's 
named  printed  on  the  cover  it  gave  him  a thrill  of  delight, 
not  unmixed  with  awe,  to  know  that  he  was  on  friendly 
terms  with  a real  editor.  The  latter  lived  on  his  planta- 
tion, a few  miles  from  Eatonton,  adjoining  that  of  his 
brother,  W.  W.  Turner.  (With  this  gentleman  I was 
already  acquainted,  having  formerly  published  a novel 
written  by  him  called  “ Jack  Hopeton  and  His  Friends," 
and  a very  clever  book  it  was.) 

The  Turner  plantations  were  known  as  “ Turnwold," 
and  there,  in  1862,  Mr.  Joseph  A.  Turner  began  the  pub- 
lication of  the  only  real  country  paper  that  young  Harris 
had  ever  seen,  then  or  since,  as  he  told  me.  It  was  called 
The  Countryman , and  were  modeled,  so  the  prospectus  set 
forth,  after  The  Rambler , Spectator,  and  other  famous 
papers.  The  printing-office  was  in  the  woods,  and  the 
squirrels,  the  jay-birds  and  the  woodpeckers  had  a lively 
time  cracking  nuts  and  pecking  away  on  the  roof. 

Mr.  Harris  said  the  starting  of  The  Countryman  was 
a very  fortunate  thing  for  him,  for  in  that  paper  he 
chanced  to  see  an  advertisement  for  a boy  to  learn  the 
printing  trade,  which  he  lost  no  time  in  answering  in 
person  and  was  engaged  at  once  as  an  apprentice. 

He  learned  very  readily  to  set  type,  but  he  said  that 
was  not  all  he  learned,  as  the  Turner  Brothers  owned  two 


436 


JOEL  CHANDLER  HARRIS. 


of  the  finest  private  libraries  in  the  South,  containing 
about  four  thousand  volumes,  and  they  were  open  to  him 
every  night.  He  used  to  read  by  a light  wood  knot  fine 
until  long  after  all  others  had  gone  to  bed. 

Mr.  Harris  said  he  was  not  sure  that  the  opportunities 
afforded  him  for  reading  did  him  as  much  good  as  his 
associations  with  the  simple-minded  country  people.  He 
became  also  much  interested  in  the  negroes,  and  orUthe 
Turner  plantations  he  heard  the  legends  and  folk-lore 
from  the  lips  of  the  negroes  themselves,  which  are  depicted 
in  the  “ Sayings  of  Uncle  Remus.” 

All  the  education  that  Mr.  Harris  has  received  was  in 
that  little  country  printing-office  in  the  woods,  and  read- 
ing the  books  from  the  Turner  libraries. 

He  often  made  hunting  excursions  when  a youngster 
of  sixteen,  with  some  of  the  country  people  among  the 
mountains  in  the  adjoining  counties,  which  he  enjoyed 
very  much. 

But  all  of  this  experience  was  put  an  end  to  by  General 
Sherman,  who  marched  through  Eatonton  on  his  way  to 
Savannah,  wiping  out  the  Turners*  mansions,  printing- 
office  and  all. 

I was  much  interested  to  learn  from  Mr.  Harris  that 
William  H.  Seward,  when  a young  man,  taught  school  on 
the  Turner  plantation.  I was  already  aware  that  when  Mr. 
Seward  was  about  eighteen  years  of  age  he  left  Union  Col- 
lege to  teach  in  the  South. 

George  E.  Baker,  in  his  interesting  Memoirs  of  Wil- 
liam H.  Seward,  relates  the  following  incident : 

“ In  tho  year  1819,  young  Seward,  who  was  then  in  the  senior 
class  and  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  his  age,  withdrew  from  college 
for  about  a year,  passing  six  months  of  the  time  as  a teacher  at 
the  south.  The  spectacle  of  slavery  could  not  fail  to  make  a deep 
impression  on  his  mind.  He  witnessed  scenes  which  aroused  him 
to  reflection  on  the  subject  and  produced  the  hostility  to  every 
form  of  oppression  which  has  since  become  ingrained  in  his  char- 
acter. The  following  is  one  of  the  many  incidents  which  occur- 


JOEL  CHANDLER  HARRIS. 


437 


red  to  him  during  his  residence  there.  While  traveling  in  the 
interior  of  the  State,  he  approached  a stream  spanned  by  a dilapi- 
dated bridge  that  had  become  almost  impassable.  He  forded  the 
river  with  no  little  difficulty  and  met  on  the  opposite  side  a negro 
woman  with  an  old,  blind  and  worn-out  horse,  bearing  a bag  of 
corn  to  the  mill.  The  poor  slave  was  in  tears  and  manifested  great 
distress  of  mind.  She  was  afraid  to  venture  on  the  bridge,  and 
the  stream  seemed  too  rapid  and  violent  for  the  strength  of  her 
horse.  She  was  reluctant  to  return  to  her  master  without  fulfill- 
ing her  errand,  being  fearful  of  punishment.  The  heart  of  the 
young  Northerner  was  moved.  He  went  to  her  assistance  and 
attempted  to  lead  the  horse  across  the  bridge,  but  the  wretched 
beast  was  not  equal  to  the  effort.  He  made  a false  step,  falling 
partly  through  became  wedged  in  among  the  plank  and  timber. 
Seward  tried  in  vain  to  extricate  him;  despairing  of  success,  he 
mounted  his  own  horse  and  rode  to  the  master’s  residence  and 
informed  him  of  the  accident  and  attempted  to  excuse  the  slave. 
In  return  for  his  kindness  he  was  met  with  a volley  of  impreca- 
tions on  himself,  the  slave,  the  horse,  the  bridge  and  all  parties 
and  things  concerned.  His  disgust  at  this  adventure  taught  him 
a lesson  of  wisdom  which  he  never  forgot.” 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  war,  young  Harris  went  to 
Savannah,  where  he  became  associate  editor  of  the  Savan- 
nah News  ; the  editor  in  chief  of  which  was  the  late  Col- 
onel W.  T.  Thompson,  author  of  “ Major  Jones*  Court- 
ship " and  other  humorous  stories.  Mr.  Thompson  proved 
a good  friend,  and  his  early  encouragement  was  of  great 
assistance  in  the  beginning  of  the  young  writer's  editorial 
and  literary  career. 

Mr.  Harris  told  me  that  the  beginning  of  the  “ Uncle 
Remus 99  stories  was  accidental  ; he  wrote  out  two  or  three 
of  them  as  an  experiment,  they  becoming,  much  to  his 
surpriso,  immensely  popular. 

It  did  not  take  me  long  to  arrange  with  Mr.  Harris  for 
the  publication  of  the  volume,  “ Uncle  Remus  : His  Songs 
and  Sayings,  the  Folk-Lore  of  the  Old  Plantation."  It  was 
appropriately  illustrated  by  Church  and  Moser,  and  pub- 


438 


JOEL  CHANDLER  HARRIS. 


lished  during  the  year  1881,  by  D.  Appleton  & Co.,  the 
author  introducing  the  book  as  follows  : 

“lam  advised  by  my  publishers  that  this  book  is  to  be  in- 
cluded in  their  catalogue  of  humorous  publications,  and  their 
friendly  warning  gives  me  an  opportunity  to  say  that  however 
humorous  it  may  be  in  effect,  its  intention  is  perfectly  serious; 
and,  even  if  it  were  otherwise,  it  seems  to  me  that  a volume  writ- 
ten wholly  in  dialect  must  have  its  solemn,  not  to  say  melancholy 
features.  With  respect  to  the  “Folk-Lore”  series,  my  pur- 
pose has  been  to  preserve  the  legends  themselves  in  their  original 
simplicity  and  to  wed  them  permanently  to  the  quaint  dialect — if 
indeed  it  can  be  called  dialect — through  the  medium  of  which 
they  have  become  a part  of  the  domestic  history  of  every  Southern 
family;  and  I have  endeavored  to  give  to  the  whole  a genuine 
flavor  of  the  old  plantation.” 

A large  sale  of  44  Uncle  Remus”  was  immediately 
assured.  Charles  A.  Dana,  one  day  while  calling  at  Apple- 
ton’s, said  to  me,  44  Derby,  you  have  made  a great  hit.”  I 
asked  him  in  what  way  ? He  answered,  44  4 Uncle  Remus  ;’ 
it  will  not  only  have  a large  sale,  but  an  enduring  sale.” 
A few  days  later,  Mr.  John  Bigelow  dropped  in,  and  made 
substantially  the  same  remarks,  adding  : 44  It  will  live  as 
long  as  4 HSsop’s  Fables.’  ” The  prophetic  words  of  these 
well-known  critics  have  thus  far  proved  true.  Mr.  Harris 
writes  me  that  he  has  a new  volume  in  the  press  of  James 
R.  Osgood  & Co.,  his  present  publishers,  entitled  44 Mingo, 
and  Other  Sketches  in  Black  and  White,”  which  will  be 
looked  for  with  much  interest  by  those  who  have  enjoyed 
44  Uncle  Remus  and  His  Sayings.” 

The  following  Tar-Baby  story  is  taken  from  44  Uncle 
Remus’  Folk-Lore  of  the  Old  Plantation.” 

[To  the  readers  unacquainted  with  Uncle  Remus’s  Sto- 
ries, it  may  be  well  to  explain  that  they  are  supposed  to  be 
told  to  a little  boy  on  a Southern  plantation  before  the 
war,  by  an  old  family  servant.] 

“ Didn’t  the  fox  never  catch  the  rabbit,  Uncle  Remus  ?”  asked 
the  little  boy  the  next  evening. 


JOEL  CHANDLER  HARRIS. 


439 


“ He  come  mighty  nigh  it,  honey,  sho’s  you  bawn — Brer  Fox 
did.  One  d;iy  alter  Brer  Rabbit  fool  ’im  wid  dat.  calamus  root, 
Brer  Fox  went  ter  wuk  en  got  ’im  some  tar,  en  mix  it  wid  some 
turkentine,  en  fix  up  a conti  apshun  wat  he  call  a Tar-Baby,  en  he 
tuck  dish  yer  Tar-Baby  en  he  sot  ’er  in  de  big  road,  en  den  he  lay 
off  in  de  bushes  for  ter  see  wat  de  news  wuz  gwineter  be.  En  he 
didn’t  hatter  wait  long,  nudder,  kaze  bimeby  here  come  Brer 
Rabbit  pacin’ down  de  road—  lippity-clippity,  clippity-lippity — 
dez  ez  sassy  ez  a jay-bird.  Brer  Fox,  be  lay  low.  Brer  Rabbit 
come  prancin’  ’long  twel  he  spy  de  Tar-Baby,  en  den  he  fotch  up 
on  his  behime  legs  like  he  wuz  ’stonished.  De  Tar-Baby,  she  sot 
dar,  she  did,  en  Brer  Fox,  he  lay  low. 

“ ‘Mawnin’!’  sez  Brer  Rabbit,  sezee — ‘nice  wedder  dis  maw- 
nin  ’ ” sezee. 

‘‘Tar-Baby  ain’t  sayin’  nuthin’,  en  Brer  Fox,  he  lay  low. 

“ ‘ How  duz  yo’  sym’tums  seem  ter  segashuate  ?’  sez  Brer  Rab- 
bit, sezee. 

“ Brer  Fox,  he  wink  his  eye  slow,  en  lay  low,  en  de  Tar-Baby, 
she  ain’t  sayin’  nuthin’. 

“ ‘How  you  come  on,  den  ? Is  you  deaf  ?’  sez  Brer  Rabbit, 
sezee.  ‘ Keze  if  you  is,  I kin  holler  louder,’  sezee. 

“Tar-Baby  stay  still,  en  Brer  Fox,  he  lay  low. 

“ ‘ Youer  stuck  up,  dat’s  w’at  you  is,’  says  Brer  Rabbit,  sezee, 

‘ en  I’m  gwinter  kyore  you,  dat’s  w’at  I’m  a gwineter  do,’  sezee. 

“Brer  Fox,  he  sorter  chuckle  in  his  stummuck,  he  did,  but 
Tar-Baby  ain’t  sayin’  nuthin’. 

“ ‘I’m  gwineter  larn  you  howter  talk  ter  ’specttubble  fokes  ef 
hit’s  de  las’  ack,’  sez  Brer  Rabbit,  sezee.  ‘ Ef  you  don’t  take  off 
dat  hat  en  tell  me  howdy,  I’m  gwineter  bus’  you  wide  open,’ 
sezee. 

“Tar-Baby  stay  still,  en  Brer  Fox,  he  lay  low. 

“ Brer  Rabbit  keep  on  axin’  ’im,  en  de  Tar-Baby,  she  keep  on 
sayin’  nuthin',  twel  present’y  Brer  Rabbit  draw  back  wid  his  fis’, 
he  did,  en  blip  he  tuck  ’er  side  er  de  head.  Right  dar's  where  he 
broke  his  raerlasses  jug.  His  fis’  stuck,  en  he  can't  pull  loose. 
De  tar  hilt  ’im.  But  Tar  Baby,  she  stay  still,  en  Brer  Fox,  he  lay 
low. 

“ ‘ Ef  you  don’t  lemme  loose,  I’ll  knock  you  agin,’  sez  Brer 
Rabbit,  sezee,  en  wid  dat  he  fotch  ’er  a wipe  wid  de  udder  han’, 
en  dat  stuck.  Tar-Baby,  she  ain’t  sayin’  nuthin’,  en  Brer  Fox,  he 
lay  low. 


440 


JOEL  CHANDLER  HARRIS. 


“ ‘ Tu’n  me  loose,  fo’  I kick  de  natal  stuffin’  outen  you,’  scz 
Brer  Rabbit,  sezee,  but  de  Tar-Baby,  she  ain’t  sayin’  nuthin’.  She 
des  hilt  on,  en  den  Brer  Rabbit  lose  de  use  er  his  feet  in  de  same 
way.  Brer  Fox,  he  lay  low.  Den  Brer  Rabbit  squall  out  dat  ef 
de  Tar-Baby  don’t  tu’n  ’im  loose  he  butt  ’er  cranksided.  En  den 
he  butted,  en  his  head  got  stuck.  Den  Brer  Fox,  he  sa’ntered 
fort’,  lookin’  des  ez  innercent  ez  wunner  yo’  mammy’s  mockin’- 
birds. 

“ ‘Howdy,  Brer  Rabbit,’  sez  Brer  Fox,  sezee.  ‘You  look  sorter 
stuck  up  dis  mawnin’,’  sezee,  en  den  he  rolled  on  de  groun’,  en 
laft  twel  he  couldn’t  laff  no  mo’.  ‘ I speck  you’ll  take  dinner  wid 
me  dis  time,  Brer  Rabbit.  I done  laid  in  some  calamus  root,  en  I 
ain’t  gwineter  take  no  skuse,’  sez  Brer  Fox,  sezee.” 

Here  Uncle  Remus  paused,  and  drew  a two-pound  yam  out  of 
the  ashes. 

“ Did  the  fox  eat  the  rabbit  ?”  asked  the  little  boy  to  whom  the 
story  had  been  told. 

“Dat’s  all  de  fur  de  tale  goes,”  replied  the  old  man.  “He 
mout,  en  den  agin  he  moutent.  Some  say  Jedge  B’ar  come  ’long 
en  loosed  ’im — some  say  he  didn’t.  I hear  Miss  Sally  callin’.  You 
better  run  ’long.” 


XXVI 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER.— A.  C.  ARMSTRONG. 

Baker  cfi  Scribner  embark  in  the  Book  Business — The  old 
Brick  Church  and  Times  Building — Andrew  Arm- 
strong as  a young  man  — Wonderful  Success  of 
Headley's  Books — N.  P.  Willis'  Queer  Book  Titles — 
Ik  Marcel  a Successful  Author — A $100,000  Under- 
taking— Death  of  Charles  Scribner — Marion  Harland's 
“ Common  Sense " — Death  of  Blair  Scribner  and 
Edward  Seymour — Encyclopedia  Britannica — Five 
Million  Dollars'  Worth  Sold — Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 


EITHER  member  of  the  firm  of  Baker  & Scribner  had 
any  experience  in  the  book  business,  when  they  estab- 
lished themselves  as  publishers,  in  the  year  1846. 

Having  purchased  the  entire  stock  of  John  S.  Taylor, 
whose  publications  were  chiefly  of  a religious  nature,  they 
located  themselves  in  the  rear  of  Rev.  Dr.  Gardner  Spring’s 
church,  between  Park  Row  and  Nassau  Street,  where  the 
New  York  Times  building  now  stands. 

Mr.  Baker  had  been  in  the  dry-goods  business,  and  Mr. 
Scribner  a law  student,  having  recently  graduated  at 
Princeton. 

The  congenial  literary  tastes  of  these  gentlemen  led  them 
to  embark  in  this  new  field  of  enterprise,  and  thus  laid  the 
foundation  of  a house  which  soon  secured  and  has  since  re- 
tained a position  in  book  publishing  which  has  not  been 
excelled  by  more  than  two  or  three  other  great  houses  in 
this  country. 

Soon  after  their  establishment  in  business,  the  new  firm 

[441] 


442 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER. 


secured  the  services  of  Andrew  C.  Armstrong,  a young  man 
who  had  had  experience  while  with  James  A.  Sparks,  then 
a publisher  of  church  books  and  also  of  the  Churchman , 
which  was  then  edited  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Seabury,  a sturdy 
advocate  of  the  so-called  Puseyite  books,  then  being  pub- 
lished by  D.  Appleton  & Co.,  and  which  were  attracting 
much  attention  in  the  religious  world. 

Soon  after  young  Armstrong  became  connected  with  the 
house,  Baker  & Scribner  published  “ Napoleon,  and  his 
Marshals,"  by  J.  T.  Headley,  a book  which  immediately 
became  immensely  popular.  It  was  soon  followed  by  its 
counterpart  in  “ Washington  and  his  Generals,”  and  after 
that  “The  Sacred  Mountains.”  Of  these  three  works,  not- 
withstanding they  were  held  very  close  in  the  price  to  book- 
sellers, the  marvelous  sale  of  more  than  a quarter  of  a million 
volumes  was  made  within  two  years  from  the  date  of  the 
publication.  Mr.  Headley  was  a brilliant  writer,  and 
Napoleon,  at  that  time,  was  all  the  rage.  The  “ Sacred 
Mountains  ” was  even  recommended  to  congregations  by 
clergymen  from  their  pulpits.  The  total  sales  have  ex- 
ceeded half  a million  volumes. 

N.  P.  Willis  was  then  in  the  height  of  his  fame,  and 
was  naturally  led  to  Baker  & Scribner  for  his  publishers, 
as  young  Armstrong  had  recently  graduated  from  the 
Home  Journal  office.  Although  this  was  nearly  forty  years 
ago,  MiyArmstrong  remembers  very  well  the  experience  of 
the  house  in  arranging  with  Mr.  Willis  for  a new  uniform 
edition  of  his  prose  works,  with  the  attractive  and  taking 
titles  of  “ People  I have  Met,”  “Life  Here  and  There,” 
“ Famous  Places  and  Persons,”  “Letters  from  Under  a 
Bridge,”  “ Out-doors  at  Idlewild,”  &c. 

About  this  time  Baker  & Scribner  arranged  with 
Donald  G.  Mitchell  (“Ik  Marvel  ”)  to  publish  his  first 
work,  entitled  “ The  Battle  Summer,”  being  the  author's, 
personal  experience  of  the  Devolution  in  Paris  in  1848. 
This  book  was  almost  a total  failure.  His  next  work, 
“Reveries  of  a Bachelor,”  was  received  with  great  favor  by 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER. 


443 


the  critics  and  reading  community.  It  was  soon  followed 
by  “ Dream  Life.”  Both  of  these  volumes  became  very 
popular  and  had  a great  sale  at  the  time,  and  still  continue 
to  sell,  new  and  uniform  editions  having  recently  been  pub- 
lished. Mr.  Mitchell’s  writings  are  now  placed  among  the 
classic  publications  of  the  day. 

When  the  late  Henry  Kernot  commenced  business  in 
Broadway,  near  Bleecker  Street,  Mr.  Mitchell  arranged 
with  him  as  the  up-town  publisher  (while  Stringer  & Towns- 
end, then  occupying  the  store  under  Barnum’s  Museum, 
were  the  down-town  publishers),  of  a weekly  brochure , 
entitled  The  Lorgnette , or  Studies  of  the  Town,  under  the 
nom  de  plume  of  “ John  Simon,”  of  which  the  following 
was  the  prospectus  : 

“ This  is  a work  for  the  express  entertainment  of  all  spinsters 
who  wish  husbands;  all  belles  who  admire  their  own  charms;  all 
beaux  who  are  captivated  with  their  own  portraits;  all  old  ladies 
who  wish  to  be  young;  all  authors  studious  of  their  own  works; 
all  fashionists  in  love  with  their  own  position ; all  misses  eager  to 
be  seen;  all  rich  men  who  are  lovers  of  their  money;  all  bache- 
lors looking  for  a fortune;  all  poets  infatuated  with  their  powers; 
all  critics  confident  of  their  taste;  and  all  sensible  men  who  are 
content  to  be  honest.” 

For  nearly  an  entire  year  the  authorship  by  Mr. 
Mitchell  was  unknown,  although  many  other  litterateurs 
were  named  as  the  editor  of  this  brilliant  weekly  without 
denying  the  charge.  < 

Mr.  Baker  died  in  the  year  3 850.  Mr.  Scribner  con- 
ducted the  business  for  sometime  thereafter  in  his  own 
name. 

About  this  time  the  late  Doctor  J.  G.  Holland  brought 
to  Mr.  Scribner  a letter  of  introduction  from  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  and  also  a manuscript  volume  entitled  “Timothy 
Titcomb’s  Letters  to  Young  People,  Single  or  Married.” 
Doctor  Holland  frankly  told  Mr.  Scribner  that  the  book 
had  already  been  declined  by  Phillips,  Sampson  & Co.,  of 
Boston,  and  by  Derby  & Jackson,  in  New  York.  In  ex- 


444 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER. 


planation  of  this  it  is  fair  to  say  that  I examined  the 
manuscript  personally  and  readily  saw  its  salable  qualities, 
but  having  just  closed  a contract  with  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  for  his  “ Lectures  to  Young  Men  ” I deemed  it 
unwise  to  publish  a book  of  similar  character  at  that  time. 

Like  Mr.  Mitchell's,  Doctor  Holland’s  first  book,  “ The 
Bay  Path,”  was  a failure.  This  did  not  deter  Mr.  Scrib- 
ner’s prompt  acceptance  of  the  manuscript  of  “ Timothy 
Titcomb”  for  publication.  The  book  immediately  capti- 
vated the  critics  and  public,  and  the  large  sale  of  more  than 
one  hundred  thousand  copies  soon  followed.  His  next 
volume  was  a poem  entitled  “ Bitter-sweet,”  soon  followed 
by  “ Katrina”  and  “ Mistress  of  the  Manse,”  all  of  which 
sold  more  largely  even  than  “ Timothy  Titcomb’s  Letters.” 

The  next  important  publication  of  Mr.  Scribner  was  an 
American  edition  of  Lange’s  Great  Commentary  of  the 
Bible.  This  was  an  immense  undertaking,  requiring  an  out- 
lay of  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  produce  the 
twenty-five  large  volumes  which  completed  the  work. 
Lange’s  Commentary  is  edited  by  Rev.  Dr.  Phillip  Schaff 
and  has  proved  a great  commercial  success.  About  this 
time,  Mr.  Armstrong,  who  had  been  with  Mr.  Scribner,  as 
before  stated,  until  1847,  was  admitted  into  the  firm. 

Mr.  Charles  Scribner  died  in  1871,  having  been  in  active 
business  for  a quarter  of  a century.  His  unexpected  death 
while  traveling  in  Europe  was  much  regretted  by  the  book- 
selling fraternity.  I had  known  and  respected  him, — as 
well  as  Mr.  Baker, — from  the  time  he  commenced  business. 
Mr.  Scribner  seemed  to  know  by  intuition  the  merits  of  a 
good  book.  He  was  conscientious  in  the  highest  degree  in 
giving  his  imprint  to  any  book  published  by  his  house. 

After  his  death  the  firm  was  re-organized  as  Scribner, 
Armstrong  & Co. 

The  first  great  hit  of  the  new  firm  was  a book  by 
Marion  Karland,  entitled  Common  Sense  in  the  House- 
hold.” The  author  had  suggested  such  a work  to  her  pub- 
lisher G.  W.  Carleton,  who  did  not  encourage  her  in  the 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER. 


445 


undertaking  ; but,  nothing  daunted,  she  set  to  work,  pre- 
pared the  MS.  and  offered  it  to  Scribner,  Armstrong  & Co. 
They  accepted  it,  not  expecting,  however,  to  realize  more 
than  a moderate  profit.  Both  author  and  publishers  were 
greatly  surprised,  as  the  sale  reached  the  extraordinary 
figure  of  nearly  200,000  copies. 

Mr.  Armstrong  retired  from  the  firm  in  1878,  and  since 
that  period  has  conducted  a successful  publishing  business 
under  the  name  of  A.  0.  Armstrong  & Son. 

The  firm  was  again  re-organized  under  the  style  of 
Charles  Scribner’s  Sons,  Mr.  Scribner’s  eldest  son,  Blair 
Scribner,  becoming  the  head.  The  house  was  again  to 
suffer  a great  loss  in  the  death  of  this  young  man,  who  bid 
fair  to  worthily  fill  the  vacant  place  left  by  his  father. 
His  death  and  that  of  Mr.  Edward  Seymour,  who  had 
recently  been  admitted  as  a partner,  occasioned  much  sorrow 
and  regret  among  all  who  knew  the  worth  of  these  intelli- 
gent and  enterprising  gentlemen. 

A younger  brother,  Charles  Scribner,  now  continues  the 
large  business  of  this  concern,  under  the  same  style  as  that 
of  his  predecessors. 

The  most  notable  among  the  publications  of  the  present 
firm,  is  “ The  Encyclopedia  Britannica,”  which  in  one  sense 
is  the  greatest  cyclopedia  ever  published.  It  may  be  well 
called  the  cyclopedia  for  the  specialist,  treating  as  it  does, 
exhaustively,  on  science,  philosophy,  history,  literature  and 
biography,  an  exceptional  feature  of  the  last  subject  being 
the  absence  of  any  biographical  notice  of  living  persons, 
no  matter  how  important  such  a personage  may  be. 

TJnlike  the  other  large  publishing  houses,  that  founded 
by  Charles  Scribner  has  never  printed  or  bound  a single 
volume  of  its  own  publications,  having  no  printing-office 
or  bindery  connected  with  the  establishment.  This  is  an 
advantage  in  many  respects,  as  the  attention  of  the  house 
if  not  diverted  into  other  channels  than  that  of  the  publi- 
cation of  their  own  books. 


XXVII. 


THE  BEECHER  FAMILY. 


Lyman  Beecher  and  his  Gifted  Children — Remarkable 
family  of  Authors — Six  Sermons  on  Intemperance — 
The  aged  Pastor's  Return — A young  Wife  at  seventy- 
five — Catherine  Beecher  as  an  Author — Gayest , kindest 
and  merriest  of  Women — Tragic  Death  of  her  Lover — 
Her  success  as  a Teacher — Yankee  Girls  go  West  to 
get  married — Edward  Beecher  as  an  Author — We're 
going  to  give  you  Hell  to-morrow — A religious  and 
commercial  standpoint — George  Beecher's  wonderful 
Memory — How  Henry  Ward  was  cheated — Tragic 
Death  of  George  Beecher . 


'HIRTY  years  ago  a writer  in  the  North  American 


Review  said,  “ The  Beecher  family  almost  constitute 
a genus  by  themselves.  The  same  type  of  mind  and  style 
is  reproduced  in  the  writings  of  the  venerable  father  and 
his  singularly  gifted  children." 

Nearly  three  decades  have  passed  since  the  above  asser- 
tion was  made,  and  many  additional  volumes  have  been 
given  to  the  world,  written  by  this  remarkable  family  of 
authors.  There  is  no  record  of  any  such  distinction  in 
letters  in  this  country,  or  indeed  in  the  world. 

I may  be  allowed  to  talk  of  if  not  for  the  Beecher 
family,  as  authors  of  books,  inasmuch  as  I have  been  the 
publisher  of  works  written  by  at  least  five  of  them. 
Although  I had  met  and  conversed  occasionally  with  the 
venerable  founder  of  the  family,  the  late  Rev.  Lyman 
Beecher,  D.D.,  I was  familiar  with  but  one  of  his  books. 


[44  G] 


THE  BEECHER  FAMILY. 


447 


and  that  was  his  “ Six  Sermons  on  Intemperance/’  the  elo- 
quence of  which  has  never  been  equalled  in  any  discourses 
on  that  subject.  “ Beecher  on  Intemperance  ” was  a 
familiar  volume  in  book-stores  half  a century  ago. 

In  Henry  Ward  Beecher’s  “ Star  Papers/’  under  the 
title  of  the  “ Aged  Pastor’s  Return/’  he  gives  the  follow- 
ing interesting  account  of  his  visit  to  his  native  place, 
Litchfield,  Connecticut,  with  his  venerable  father,  who  had 
been  absent  from  his  former  parish  for  nearly  forty  years  : 

“ The  next  dny  it  was  sent  out  far  and  wide  that  Dr.  Beecher 
was  in  town.  Though  the  great  body  of  his  former  parishioners 
had  passed  away,  some  remained  that  were  old  when  he  preached 
here.  As  we  passed  the  graveyard  coming  into  town,  my  father, 
pointing  to  it  said,  ‘ There  is  the  congregation  to  which  I preached 
when  I was  here.’  Silent  now  and  without  memory.  The  uncon- 
scious assembly  gave  no  greeting  as  we  passed,  but  kept  their 
long  Sabbath  without  bell  or  tithing-man!  But  some  yet 
remained  alive.  Men  now  of  fifty  years  were  boys  when  my  father 
left.  Those  who  blushed  to  think  of  love  and  husband  then,  now 
rocked  their  grandchildren’s  cradle  ! Those  who  were  then  in 
the  prime  of  middle  life  were  now  venerable.  And,  indeed, 
Litchfield  is  the  last  place  in  which  one  should  settle  who  desires 
to  go  early  to  his  rest.  It  seems  difficult  to  obtain  release  from 
earth  on  this  clear  hill-top.  Men  are  counted  very  young  at  fifty 
and  sound  at  seventy-five,  and  not  very  old  at  eighty.  One  old 
man,  near  ninety,  modestly  told  us  that  his  mind  had  been  affected 
by  a shock  ; but  surely  he  had  more  wfit  and  sprightliness,  after 
all  his  loss,  than  most  men  have  to  begin  with.  He  was  pecu- 
liarly thankful  that  while  he  was  too  old  to  do  much  himself,  God 
had  been  pleased  to  give  him  a young  wife.  She  was  only  seventy- 
five,  he  informed  us. 

“ A man  past  eighty,  going  through  the  streets  to  visit  all  the 
fathers  and  mothers  in  Israel,  who  had  been  young  in  his  ministry 
there,  was  a scene  not  a little  memorable. 

“One  patriarch,  in  his  ninety-ninth  year,  when  his  former 
pastor  came  into  the  room,  spoke  not  a word,  but  rose  up  and 
putting  his  trembling  arms  about  his  neck,  burst  into  tears.  Did 
he  see  in  that  moment,  as  by  the  opening  of  a door,  all  the  way  he 
had  wTalkcd  till  that  hour,  and  all  the  companions  who  had 


448 


THE  BEECHER  FAMILY. 


walked  with  him  ? And  did  he  feel,  standing  by  the  venerable 
pastor,  two  old  men,  how  few  there  were  that  yet  kept  step  with 
him  upon  the  bleak  way  of  life  ? 

“Passing  his  own  former  home,  my  father  broke  out  with  a 
swing  of  his  arm,  ‘Oh,  how  many  thoughts  and  associations  hang 
about  that  place  ! They  fill  the  air  like  swarms  of  bees,  and  yet 
I cannot  speak  to  one  of  them.’ 

“The  particular  errand  which  brought  us  to  Litchfield  was  a 
lecture.  A new  organ  was  to  be  bought.  All  Litchfield  boys 
were  permitted  to  help.  Our  contribution  was  asked  in  the 
shape  of  a lecture,  and  it  was  soon  done.  Then  the  aged  pastor 
came  forward.  A crowd  of  old  and  young  gathered  at  the  pulpit 
stairs  to  grasp  the  hand  that  had  baptized  them,  or  had  broken  to 
them  the  bread  of  life.  It  was  a scene  of  few  words.  One 
woman  gave  her  name,  but  was  not  recognized  in  her  married 
name.  She  then  mentioned  her  maiden  name.  That  touched  a 
hidden  spring.  Both  burst  into  tears  but  spoke  no  words.  The 
history  came  up  instantly  before  both,  but  silently,  which  had 
occasioned  the  preaching  of  those  ‘ Six  Sermons  upon  Intemper- 
ance.’ That  volume  is  in  every  land  on  earth,  and  in  many  lan- 
guages. It  is  preaching  and  working  with  unwasting  vigor. 
Those  that  read  it  know  only  that  it  is  a cry  and  pleading  that 
few  men  can  hear  without  deep  feeling.  But  not  many  know 
that  it  was  a cry  of  love,  the  utter  effort  of  a heart  of  love  to  save 
a dear  friend  imperilled,  or  two  friends,  rather  closely  related.” 

Catherine  E.  Beecher,  the  eldest  child  of  Lyman 
Beecher,  was  the  author  of  no  less  than  ten  different  works 
published  by  Harper  & Bros.  The  most  popular  of  these 
was  “Domestic  Economy'”  and  “Domestic  Receipts/’ 
The  annual  income  from  her  copyrights  enabled  her  to 
exercise  those  educational  charities  for  which  she  was 
noted.  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  in  a recent  interesting 
interview,  said  to  me  : 

“ My  sister  Catherine  was  one  of  the  gayest,  kindest 
and  merriest  of  women  in  early  life,  until  the  loss  of  Pro- 
fessor Eisher,  of  Yale  College,  to  whom  she  was  engaged 
at  the  time  he  was  wrecked  off  the  coast  of  Ireland  in  the 
ship  Albion.  His  tragic  end  nearly  killed  her.  She  used 
to  be  in  floods  of  grief.  It  nearly  upset  her  faith.  Finally, 


THE  BEECHER  FAMILY. 


449 


she  began  to  feel  that  her  life  must  be  saved  by  attempting 
to  do  good.  This  resolution  was  the  means  of  her  going  to 
teach.  She  founded  the  celebrated  Hartford  Female 
Seminary.  For  all  sports  and  fun,  and  games  and  frolics, 
writing  snatches  of  poetry  and  everything  of  that  kind,  she 
was  as  finely  equipped  as  any  person  I ever  knew  in  my 
life.  She  was  very  industrious,  always  busy  and  very  faith- 
ful, and  she  was  a companion  to  her  older  scholars  and  one 
of  the  merriest  of  the  merry.  There  was  nothing  on  earth 
more  delightful  and  happy  than  the  relations  she  bore  to 
her  upper  classes  in  school. 

There  was  some  theological  question  up  at  one  time  at 
Andover,  and  Dr.  Leonard  Woods,  one  of  the  professors, 
had  made  some  statements,  which  Catherine  reviewed  and 
published  it  anonymously  in  one  of  the  magazines.  It  was 
so  vigorous  that  Dr.  Woods  thought  he  had  found  an  an- 
tagonist worthy  of  his  steel,  and  elaborately  answered  it. 
Catherine  replied,  and  he  answered  that,  and  then,  to  his 
infinite  disgust,  he  found  his  opponent  was  a woman,  and 
he  dropped  his  pen,  for  at  that  time  people  did  not  think 
women  were  worth  much  as  controversialists. 

Catherine  afterwards  became  eminently  practical.  After 
leaving  her  school  she  devoted  herself  to  establishing  nor- 
mal schools  in  the  West.  She  was  very  much  interested  in 
sending  classes  of  teachers  to  the  Western  States  through 
Governor  Slade  of  Vermont.  Some  ridiculed  the  plan 
by  saying  they  never  taught  a year,  as  they  were  all  very 
soon  married  off.  Governor  Slade's  reply  was  “ that  is  the 
best  thing  about  it.  You  will  find  every  lawyer,  physician 
and  professor  all  through  the  West  will  select  one  of  these 
educated  Yankee  girls.  Then  when  any  enterprise  requir- 
ing public  spirit  is  started,  you  will  find  every  man  who 
has  married  one  of  these  Yankee  school-ma'ams  will  become 
an  enthusiastic  advocate  of  it." 

All  her  life  long  Catherine  dreaded  pain,  and  it  pleased 
God  to  let  her  go  to  sleep  without  consciousness  of  feeble- 
ness and  to  wake  up  in  Heaven. 


450 


THE  BEECHER  FAMILY. 


The  last  time  I met  Miss  Beecher  was  during  her  visit 
to  the  South  at  Aiken  in  1870.  She  was  then  planning,  in 
connection  with  the  late  George  Merriam,  the  organizing 
of  outdoor  schools  to  educate  young  ladies  in  botany  and 
floriculture,  in  which  undertaking  she  was  much  interested. 

Rev.  Edward  Beecher , D.D.,  is  the  author  of  several 
works  upon'  theological  subjects,  the  most  prominent  of 
which  are  the  “Conflict  of  Ages"  and  the  “Concord  of 
Ages,"  the  latter  having  been  published  by  my  firm  in  1860. 

His  latest  work,  entitled  “Future  Retribution,"  was 
published  by  the  Appletons.  A friend,  who  was  con- 
nected with  the  publishers,  meeting  Rev.  Henry  Ward, 
one  day  said:  “We’:e  going  to  give  you  hell  to-morrow, 
Mr.  Beecher."  The  Plymouth  pastor  looked  at  the  speaker 
in  astonishment,  and  asked,  “ What’s  up  now  ?’’  “ Oh," 

replied  his  friend,  “ I refer  to  your  brother  Edward’s  book 
on  ‘ Future  Retribution,’  which  the  Appletons  publish 
to-morrow."  Mr.  Beecher  said,  “You  are  getting  blas- 
phemous." His  friend  replied,  “ I am  only  following  your 
pulpit  remarks  made  some  years  ago."  “But,"  said  Mr. 
Beecher  laughingly,  “ I used  them  from  a religious  stand- 
point." “ And,"  replied  the  friend,  “ I used  mine  from  a 
commercial  standpoint." 

In  a recent  conversation  with  the  Plymouth  pastor  about 
the  several  members  of  his  family,  he  spoke  as  follows  of 
his  brother.  Rev.  George  Beecher  : 

“ The  first  year  or  two  of  my  preaching,  I did  not  enjoy 
it.  At  one  time  my  brother  George  came  to  Lawrence- 
burgh  to  preach  for  the  communion  season,  which  lasted 
for  a week.  We  preached  alternately.  When  George 
preached  the  first  sermon,  I came  home  and  said  to  my 
wife  : ‘ I never  felt  as  much  indisposition  to  go  into  the 
pulpit  again  as  I do  now.’  But  I struggled  against  it. 
The  next  night  I preached,  and  George  came  home  and 
said  to  his  wife  : ‘Well,  Sarah,  since  I have  heard  Henry 
preach  I feel  as  if  I had  not  been  called  to  the  ministry.’ 

“ If  George  had  lived  he  would  have  been  one  of  the  ablest 


HARRIET  BEECHER  STOWE. 


451 


of  the  family.  He  was  the  next  oldest  brother  to  me.  He  was 
naturally  very  high-strung,  of  very  fine  fibre,  and  in  intense 
sympathy  with  all  natural  sciences.  He  had  a wonderful 
memory.  He  could  repeat  the  Bible  from  beginning  to 
end  as  thoroughly  as  I cannot.  I have  heard  him  give  a 
sermon  on  the  character  of  God,  which  consisted  of  texts 
strung  together  from  the  beginning  of  the  Bible  to  the  end, 
which  such  wonderful  facility,  I never  heard  the  like 
before. 

“The  fact  is,  I was  cheated  when  I was  born.  Hattie 
Stowe  and  George  took  all  the  memory  and  left  me  without 
any.  I do  not  dare  to  lead  in  the  Lord’s  Prayer.  I couldn’t 
repeat  correctly  one  commandment  from  beginning  to  end. 
I cannot  repeat  a verse  of  any  hymn  in  the  English 
language.  They  could  repeat  everything  they  had  ever  read. 
George  grew  sweeter,  deeper  and  more  thoroughly  Christ- 
like  in  his  nature.  He  was  very  fond  of  flowers  and  garden- 
ing, and  had,  at  Chillicothe,  where  he  was  settled,  a 
charming  garden.  He  had  some  cherry  trees  he  was  de- 
sirous of  testing  ; on  the  day  of  the  tragedy,  he  returned 
from  market  and  found  the  robins  were  at  his  cherries.  He 
took  his  double-barreled  gun  with  the  intention,  we  suppose, 
of  shooting  them,  but  never  lived  to  tell  what  he  did.  He 
had  a bad  habit  of  blowing  the  smoke  out  of  his  gun, 
and  we  supposed  he  undertook  to  do  that,  and  hit  the 
trigger  and  the  gun  discharged,  the  whole  of  the  contents 
passing  through  his  brain.  I had  gone  out  to  deliver  a 
lecture  before  the  Jacksonville  college,  and  my  wife,  my 
cousin  and  my  daughter,  Hattie,  who  was  then  a baby, 
were  with  me.  We  were  on  our  way  home,  and  had  crossed 
the  State  line  of  Illinois,  and  got  into  Indiana,  and  were 
singing  and  having  a very  lively  time,  when  we  met  old 
Daniel  Yandes,  a Pennsylvania  Dutchman  whom  we  knew. 
After  shaking  hands  with  us  in  his  long-armed  way,  he 
said,  f I suppose  you  have  heard  the  news?’  ‘No/  said 
I,  ‘ what  is  it  ?’  4 Why,  your  brother  George  has  killed 

himself  !”  We  were  all  struck  so  dumb  we  could  not  ask 


452 


THE  BEECHER  FAMILY. 


a question.  We  started  right  off,  and  there  wasn’t  one 
word  spoke  in  the  carriage  all  the  way  home.  The  manner 
in  which  he  said  it  led  me  to  suppose  that  George  had  de- 
liberately committed  suicide.  It  was  not  until  we  got 
home  that  we  learned  what  the  facts  were.  The  relief  was 
so  great  that  it  almost  took  away  the  sting  of  his  death. 
I have  often  had  the  curiosity  to  know  how  George  would 
have  met  all  the  changes  that  have  taken  place  from  that 
day  to  this.” 


HARRIET  BEECHER  STOWE. 

Harriet  Beecher  Stowe's  fame  as  an  Author — Immense  Sale 
of  “ Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  ” — Its  Publication  in  all 
languages — Magnificent  Testimonial  to  its  Author — 
“ Uncle  Tom  was  given  to  me" — “ I will  have  some 
supper  " — Archbishop  Whateley , Gladstone  and  Dean 
Alford — They  praise  “ The  Minister's  Wooing  " — 
Professor  Stowe  an  Author. 

HPHIS  most  famous  writer  of  the  Beecher  family,  and 
author  of  the  most  celebrated  work  of  fiction  ever 
published  in  America  or  indeed  in  the  world  during  the 
present  century,  first  became  well  known  as  an  author  in 
1852,  when  the  world-renowned  “ Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin” 
first  appeared  as  a serial  in  the  National  Era,  an  anti- 
slavery paper  then  published  in  Washington. 

It  was  afterwards  issued  in  two  volumes  in  book  form 
by  John  P.  Jewett  & Co.  The  sale  of  nearly  a haif  million 
of  copies  in  this  country  alone  in  five  years,  is  without  a 
parallel ; this  was  more  than  thirty  years  ago,  and  its  sale 
has  continued  unabated,  many  thousands  being  sold  annu- 
ally. That  the  interest  in  the  story  of  Uncle  Tom  does  not 
readily  die  out,  is  manifested  by  the  continual  representa- 
tions in  the  theatres,  for  which  it  has  often  been  drama- 
tized. The  sale  of  “ Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin”  in  foreign 


HARRIET  BEECHER  STOWE. 


453 


countries  is  thus  graphically  described  in  a long  article 
published  in  the  Edinburgh  Review,  of  April,  1855. 

“ The  first  London  edition  was  published  in  May,  1852,  and 
was  not  large  ; for  the  European  popularity  of  a picture  of  negro 
life  was  doubted.  But  in  the  following  September  the  London 
publishers  furnished  to  one  house  10,000  copies  per  day  for  about 
four  wTeeks,  and  had  to  employ  1,000  persons  in  preparing  copies 
to  supply  the  general  demand.  We  cannot  follow  it  beyond 
1852  ; but  at  that  time,  more  than  a million  copies  had  been  sold 
in  England,  probably  ten  times  as  many  as  have  been  sold  of  any 
other  work,  except  the  Bible  and  Prayer  Book.  In  France, 

‘ Uncle  Tom  ’ still  covers  the  shop-windows  of  the  Boulevards, 
and  one  publisher  alone,  Eustance  Barba,  has  sent  out  five 
different  editions  in  different  forms.  Before  the  end  of  1852,  it 
had  been  translated  into  Italian,  Swedish,  Danish,  Dutch,  Flem- 
ish, German,  Polish  and  Magyar.  There  are  two  different  Dutch 
and  twelve  different  German  translations,  and  the  Italian  transla- 
tion enjoys  the  honor  of  the  Pope’s  prohibition.  It  has  been 
dramatized  in  twenty  different  forms  and  acted  in  every  capital  in 
Europe  and  in  the  free  States  of  America.” 

The  sales  abroad  have  been  so  large  that  they  cannot  be 
computed,  and  on  them  no  copyright  returns  have  ever 
been  received  by  the  author.  She  has,  however,  something 
which  she  values  more  than  copyright,  and  that  is,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  place  assigned  her  in  English  literature  by  the 
most  eminent  critics  in  the  world,  the  letters  and  addresses 
which  she  has  received  from  foreign  states,  cities  and 
towns  as  noted  below. 

The  following  statement  appears  in  a bibliographical 
account  prefixed  to  a late  edition  of  “Uncle  Tom’s 
Cabin,”  published  by  Houghton,  Mifflin  & Co. 

“ The  next  step  in  the  history  of  f Uncle  Tom  ’ was  a 
meeting  at  Stafford  House,  when  Lord  Shaftesbury  recom- 
mended to  the  women  of  England,  the  sending  of  an 
‘ affectionate  and  Christian  address  to  the  women  of 
America.’  This  address,  composed  by  Lord  Shaftesbury, 
was  taken  in  hand  for  signatures  by  energetic  canvassers 


454 


HARRIET  BEECHER  STOWE. 


in  all  parts  of  England,  and  also  among  resident  English 
on*  the  Continent.  The  demand  for  signatures  went  as 
far  as  the  City  of  Jerusalem.  When  they  were  all  col- 
lected, the  document  was  forwarded  to  the  care  of  Mrs. 
Stowe  in  America,  with  a letter  from  Lord  Carlisle,  re- 
commending it  to  her  to  be  presented  to  the  ladies  of 
America  in  such  way  as  she  should  see  fit. 

“It  was  exhibited  first  at  the  Boston  Anti-Slavery  fair 
and  now  remains  in  its  solid  oak  case  in  Mrs.  Stowe's  pos- 
session, a lasting  monument  of  the  feeling  called  forth  by 
( Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin.'  It  is  in  twenty-six  thick  folio  vol- 
umes, solidly  bound  in  morocco  with  the  American  eagle 
on  each.  On  the  first  page  of  the  first  volume  is  the  ad- 
dress beautifully  illuminated  on  vellum,  and  following,  the 
subscriber's  names,  filling  the  volumes.  There  are  five 
hundred  and  sixty-two  thousand  four  hundred  and  forty- 
eight  names  of  women  of  every  rank  of  life,  from  the  near- 
est in  rank  to  the  throne  of  England  to  the  wives  and 
daughters  of  the  humblest  artisan  and  laborer." 

During  a recent  visit  to  Mrs.  Stowe  at  her  beautiful 
Hartford  home,  I was  favored  with  an  opportunity  to  ex- 
amine the  treasures  above  referred  to.  I was  also  both 
interested  and  amazed  to  see  the  different  editions  of  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin.  Besides  the  thirty-five  different  editions 
of  that  work  in  London  and  Edinburgh,  there  were  nine- 
teen translations  in  different  languages,  in  which  Uncle 
Tom  appears  under  the  following  curious  titles.  It  is  called 
in  French,  “ La  Case  de  l’Oncle  Tom in  German, 
“ Oncle  Tom's  Hiitte  ; " in  Danish,  “ Onkel  Tomas  ; ’’  in 
Dutch,  “De  Negerhut  in  Flemish,  “Dehut  van  Onkel 
Tom  in  Hungarian,  “ Tama's  Batya;"  in  Italian,  “ La 
Capanna  dello  Zio  Tommaso;"  in  Polish,  “ Chata  Wuja 
Tomasza;"  in  Portugese,  “ A Cabana  do  Pai  Thomaz;" 
in  Spanish,  “ La  Cabana  del  Tio  Tomas  ; " in  Russian, 
“ Khizhina  dyadi  Toma;5'  in  Swedish,  “Onkel  Tom's 
Stuga." 

Blackwood's  Magazine,  in  an  article  of  more  than 


HARRIET  BEECHER  STOWE. 


455 


thirty  pages,  devoted  to  the  examination  of  the  literary 
merits  of  “ Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin,”  viewing  it  solely  as  a work 
of  art,  thus  summed  up  its  opinion  of  the  author  : 

“ Mrs.  Stowe  is  unquestionably  a woman  of  genius,  and  that  is 
a word  we  always  use  charily,  regarding  genius  as  a thing  per  se 
different  from  talent,  in  its  highest  development,  altogether,  and 
in  kind.  Quickness,  shrewdness,  energy,  intensity,  may  and  fre- 
quently do  accompany,  but  do  not  constitute  genius.  Its  divine 
spark  is  the  direct  and  special  gift  of  God  ; we  cannot  completely 
analyze  it,,  though  we  may  detect  its  presence  and  the  nature  of 
many  of  its  attributes,  by  its  action;  and  the  skill  of  high  criticism 
is  requisite  in  order  to  distinguish  betweenthe  feats  of  genius  and 
the  operation  of  talent.  Now,  we  imagine  that  no  person  of  genius 
can  read  Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin  and  not  feel  in  glowing  contact  with 
genius — generally  gentle  and  tender,  but  capable  of  rising  with 
its  theme  into  very  high  regions  of  dramatic  power.  This  Mrs. 
Stowe  has  done  several  times  in  the  work  before  us — exhibiting  a 
passion,  an  intensity,  a subtle  delicacy  of  perception,  a melting 
tenderness,  which  are  as  far  out  of  reach  of  mere  talent,  however 
well  trained  and  experienced,  as  the  prismatic  colors  are  out  of 
reach  of  the  born  blind.  But  the  genius  of  Mrs.  Stowe  is  of  that 
kind  which  instinctively  addresses  itself  to  the  affections  ; and 
though  most  at  home  with  the  gentler,  it  can  be  yet  fearlessly 
familiar  with  the  fiercest  passions  which  can  agitate  and  rend  the 
human  breast.  With  the  one  she  can  exhibit  an  exquisite  tender- 
ness and  sympathy  ; watching  the  other,  however,  with  stern  but 
calm  scrutiny  and  delineating  both  with  a truth  and  simplicity  in 
the  one  case  touching,  in  the  other  really  terrible.” 

Mrs.  Stowe  once  said  to  me,  while  speaking  of  her 
brother,  “ Henry  wrote  me  he  wouldn’t  read  Uncle  Tom’s 
Cabin,  but  he  couldn’t  help  it.’  And  said  he,  ‘ If  you  ever 
write  such  another  book,  I will  kill  you,  if  I have  to  go 
around  the  world  to  find  you.  You  have  taken  more  out 
of  me  than  a whole  year  of  preaching.  I wish  that  all  the 
slaveholders  in  the  South  and  all  the  Northern  sympathiz- 
ers with  them  were  shut  up  for  a century  and  obliged  to 
read  Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin.’  I will  say  this  for  Henry.  I 


456 


HARRIET  BEECHER  STOWE. 


never  heard  him  speak  a cross  word  in  all  my  life.  I have 
been  very  intimate  with  him  and  have  seen  him  under  very 
trying  circumstances.  He  is  the  sweetest  tempered  person, 
although  he  is  my  brother  ; he  is  a mighty  fellow  and  all 
feeling.  When  he  is  angry  he  doesn’t  say  anything ; he 
shuts  his  mouth  and  sits  still.  Henry  doesn’t  look  like  the 
traditional  idea  of  the  saints,  but  he  is  one.  Those  saints 
were  generally  rolling  up  their  eyes  and  wearing  long  faces. 
He  doesn’t  do  anything  of  that  kind.  He  jokes  and  says 
good-natured  things.  I think  good-nature  is  a virtue.  I 
consider  that  God  loves  good-natured  people.” 

At  the  garden  party  given  in  honor  of  Mrs.  Stowe  to 
commemorate  her  seventieth  birthday,  in  June,  1882,  I had 
the  pleasure  of  hearing  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  refer  to  these 
different  editions  of  Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin  in  foreign  langu- 
ages, in  the  following  felicitous  lines  : 

“ If  every  tongue  that  speaks  her  praise, 

For  whom  I shape  my  tinkling  phrase, 

Were  summoned  to  the  table, 

The  vocal  chorus  that  would  meet, 

Of  mingled  accents,  harsh  or  sweet, 

From  every  land  and  tribe,  would  beat 
The  polyglots  of  Babel. 

“ Briton  and  Frenchman,  Swede  and  Dane, 

Turk,  Spaniard,  Tartar  of  Ukraine, 

Hidalgo,  Cossack,  Cadi, 

High  Dutchman  and  Low  Dutchman  too, 

The  Russian  serf,  the  Polish  Jew, 

Arab,  Armenian  and  Mantchoo, 

Would  shout,  ‘ We  know  the  lady  1 ’ ” 

Mr.  Beecher,  on  the  occasion  referred  to  above,  in  his 
eloquent  and  feeling  remarks,  said  : 

“ I don’t  know  whether  it  is  in  good  taste  for  any  other  mem- 
ber of  my  father’s  family  to  join  in  the  laudation  of  Mrs.  Stowe, 
but  if  it  is,  I am  a very  proper  one  to  do  it.  I know  that  for  a 
long  time  after  the  publication  of  Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin  there  were  a 


HARRIET  BEECHER  STOWE. 


457 


great  many  very  wise  people  who  said  they  knew  that  she  never 
wrote  it  herself,  but  that  I did.  The  matter  at  last  became  so 
scandalous  that  I determined  to  put  an  end  to  it,  and  therefore  I 
wrote  ‘ Norwood.’  That  killed  the  thing  dead. 

* * * * 

“ Now,  I think  we  might  have  a good  experience  meeting  here 
this  afternoon,  if  every  one  would  tell  under  what  citcumstances 
he  read  the  book,  and  how  he  acted.  I can  still  remember  plainly 
the  circumstances  under  which  I finished  it.  I had  got  well  into 
the  second  volume.  It  was  Thursday.  Sunday  was  looming  up 
before  me,  and  at  the  rate  at  which  I was  going  there  would  not 
be  time  to  finish  it  before  Sunday,  and  I could  never  preach  till  I 
finished  it.  So  X set  myself  to  it  and  determined  to  finish  it  at 
once.  I had  got  a considerable  way  into  the  second  volume,  and  I 
recommended  my  wife  to  go  to  bed.  I didn’t  want  anybody  down 
there.  I soon  began  to  cry.  Then  I went  and  shut  all  the  doors, 
for  I did  not  want  any  one  to  see  me.  Then  I sat  down  to  it  and 
finished  it  that  night,  for  I knew  that  only  in  that  way  should  I be 
able  to  preach  on  Sunday.  I know  that  many  of  you  must  have 
read  it  something  as  I did  at  that  time.” 

In  one  of  my  conversations  with  Rev.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  I asked  him  to  tell  me  how  Mrs.  Stowe  came  to 
write  the  book.  'He  replied,  “ Sister  Harriet  said  to  me  one 
day,  ‘Have  you  ever  seen  the  National  Era  ?’  (It  was  an 
anti-slavery  paper  established  in  Washington.)  I said, 
‘No,  I don’t  see  it,  but  I can/  She  said,  ‘Dr.  Bailey, 
the  editor,  has  sent  a request  to  me  to  write  him  a story.  I 
am  going  to  send  him  one  I think  that  will  run  through 
three  or  four  of  the  papers.’  That  was  the  beginning  of 
Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin.  Instead  of  running  through  three  or 
four  papers,  it  ran  through  about  fifty,  nearly  a year.  It 
produced  such  an  effect  that  it  was  soon  published  in  book 
form.  It  had  got  up  to  the  point  where  it  could  be  pub- 
lished in  book  form.  Her  publisher,  John  P.  Jewett,  was 
very  anxious  she  should  put  it  into  one  volume  and  not  by 
any  means  into  two,  and  he  got  me  to  write  to  her.  I ac- 
cordingly wrote,  ‘ You  know  what  difficulty  there  is  in 
laying  before  the  public  any  matter  that  is  prejudicial  to 
20 


458 


HARRIET  BEECIIER  STOWE. 


slavery.  You  have  succeeded  in  this  story,  and  if  you  do 
not  make  it  too  long,  I think  it  will  be  a book  that  will 
have  an  important  influence.’  She  never  answered  my  letter 
and  never  said  a word,  but  went  on  writing  until  she  got  to 
the  end. 

“ Some  one  said  to  Mrs.  Stowe  one  day,  ‘ I don’t  see  how 
you  could  have  suffered  Eva  to  die.’  * Well,’  said  she, 

‘ I was  sick  in  bed  three  days  after  her  death.’  The  story 
was  Avritten  every  Aveek  and  read  in  the  family  before  it 
Avent  off.  Some  of  them  said  it  was  exactly  like  a history 
going  on  in  some  neighboring  family  and  the  neAvs  being- 
brought  over  to  them  every  day  of  how  they  were  getting 
on  When  Eva  died,  the  house  was  as  still  and  solemn  as 
at  a funeral.” 

“ Mrs.  Stowe  ahvays  speaks  of  that  book  as  not  being 
hers.  Sometimes  people  Avould  speak  to  her  of  Avorkingup 
something  else,  and  Avould  say,  ‘ You  know  Iioav  it  Avas 
Avith  “ Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin.”  4 Well,’  she  would  answer, 
‘that  Avasn’t  mine,  that  was  given  to  me.’” 

“ The  persons  in  her  story  were  not  real,  living  charac- 
ters, except  so  far  as  to  give  her  a hint.  There  was  a man 
said  to  be  the  original  of  Uncle  Tom,  who  pleased  her  very 
much,  and  may  have  contributed  one  or  two  ideas.  Eor 
one  accustomed  to  writing  fiction,  only  one  or  tAvo  hints 
are  needed,  and  the  whole  scene  pictures  itself.  Many  of 
the  characters  in  ‘ Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin  ’ were  suggested  by 
the  people  in  her  oavii  house.” 

“There  Avas  one  character  named  ‘ Sam,’  who  is  repre- 
sented early  in  the  story  as  ingeniously  assisting  the  escape 
of  Eliza.  The  original  of  Sam  Avas  a very  curious  fellow. 
At  one  time  he  was  convicted  of  stealing  and  was  put  in 
prison  at  Columbus.  He  aftenvards  came  back  to  see  us, 
and  said  he  had  been  in  the  service  of  the  State  for  a year 
or  tAvo.  On  making  inquiries  we  found  he  had  been  in  the 
state  prison.  Mrs.  StoAve  once  said,  ‘ I always  have  been 
sorry  I let  Sam  die  off,  but  I had  nothing  for  him  to  do. 
Topsy  had  an  original.  She  Avas  just  such  a creature  as  is 


HARRIET  BEECHER  STOWE. 


459 


described  in  “ Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin.”  She  lived  on  Walnut 
Hill,  Cincinnati.  Her  name  was  Celeste.’ 

“ Mrs.  Stowe’s  conversations  about  negro  people,  when 
she  is  in  a narrative  mood,  are  equal  to  anything  in 
‘ Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin.’  Sojourner  Truth  once  gave  Mrs. 
Stowe  an  account  of  her  life.  It  is  a most  extraordinary 
narrative  of  events  which  never  could  have  occurred  any- 
where except  among  these  American  negroes.  Mrs.  Stowe’s 
recital  of  this  story  is  very  touching.  When  she  was  in 
Rome  she  related  it  to  Mrs.  Browning  and  the  sculptor 
Story,  at  the  house  of  the  former.  They  were  so  struck 
with  it,  that  parties  were  afterwards  formed  there  to  hear 
her  give  narrative  accounts  of  some  of  these  negro  charac- 
ters. I have  sometimes  thought  she  narrated  better  than 
she  wrote.” 

After  this,  I said,  “ Mr.  Beecher,  this  is  very  interesting. 
Tell  me  more  about  your  sister’s  habits  while  writing.”  He 
went  on  to  say : “ Harriet  Stowe’s  habits  in  those  days  were 
peculiar.  She'  would  owl  about  all  day,  go  to  look  at  a 
picture,  get  a book,  and  sit  down  in  a corner  and  read ; if 
anyone  talked  to  her  she  couldn’t  hear  what  was  said  and 
did  not  know.  In  the  afternoon  she  would  go  to  sleep. 
About  five  or  six  o’clock  she  would  begin  to  twinkle  and 
look  around  and  perhaps  make  some  comical  remark.  To- 
wards evening  she  would  commence  to  talk  for  two  or  three 
hours,  and  her  conversation  was  perfectly  fascinating.  She 
had  a wonderful  memory.  She  could  recite  pretty  much 
all  of  the  English  classics,  among  others  passages  from 
Goldsmith,  Dryden,  Shakspeare  and  Milton.  I don’t  mean 
that  she  could  recite  the  whole  of  their  poems,  but  passages 
that  would  come  in  pat.  If  one  was  talking  about  anything 
and  should  say,  ‘ How  does  that  run  ?’  she  would  catch  the 
note  and  recite  it.  So  with  the  Bible  ; she  could  recite  it 
almost  from  beginning  to  end. 

“ I remember  at  one  time  when  she  was  a child,  so  young 
as  to  be  subject  to  discipline,  her  mother  for  some  reason, 
boxed  her  ears  and  refused  to  give  her  any  supper.  She 


460 


HARRIET  BEECHER  STOWE. 


went  out  into  the  garden  and  picked  a lot  of  quince  blos- 
soms and  brought  them  up  into  the  chamber  where  I was, 
I believe,  in  equal  disgrace,  and  commenced  pulling  off  the 
petals  and  eating  them,  saying  : ‘ I will  have  some  sup- 

per.’ ” 

Mrs.  Stowe’s  next  novel  was  called  “ Dred,  a Tale  of 
the  Dismal  Swamp,”  an  interesting  account  of  which  is 
given  in  another  chapter.  This  title  was  subsequently 
changed,  and  it  is  now  published  under  the  name  of  “Nina 
Gordon,  a Story  of  Slavery.” 

In  the  year  1859,  my  firm  became  the  publishers  of  her 
next  book,  entitled,  “ The  Minister’s  Wooing,”  which  many 
consider  her  best  work  next  after  Uncle  Tom.  In  an  unpub- 
lished letter  of  Archbishop  Whateley,  he  pronounces  “ The 
Minister’s  Wooing”  to  be  superior,  from  a literary  point  of 
view,  to  anything  Mrs.  Stowe  has  ever  written.  Mr.  Glad- 
stone also  wrote  that  “he  had  just  been  re:. ding  the  book 
and  expressed  himself  much  delighted  with  it.  He  con- 
sidered it  one  of  the  most  charming  pictures  of  Puritan 
life  possible,  and  he  thought  the  different  characters  were 
differentiated  remarkably  well.” 

In  another  letter  to  Professor  Stowe  Dean  Alford  wrote: 
“I  read  the  Minister’s  Wooing  with  interest  and  pleasure. 
You  will  allow  me  to  say  that  I like  it  best  of  all  Mrs. 
Stowe’s  tales.  The  picture  which  it  gives  of  the  Calvinis- 
tic  Life  of  New  England  is  most  interesting  and  informing.” 
Professor  Stowe  himself  is  the  author  of  a very  able  work 
on  the  origin  of  the  Bible,  and  several  theological  works. 


HENRY  WARD  REECIIER. 


461 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  as  an  Author — Great  Success  of  his 
Star  Payers — Beecher  and  Randolph  the  Publisher — 
A Preacher  appropriates  Beecher’s  Sermons — Rather  be 
executed  than  read  a Book — How  Henry  Ward  began  to 
buy  Books — Martin  Van  Buren  hears  him  preach — 
Trousers  did  not  set  very  well — Beecher’s  attachment  to 
Bonner — He  smokes  cigars  with  Stanton — Washington 
Irving  hears  bass  to  the  tune  of  Thunder — A Texas  Tri- 
bute to  Henry  Ward  Beecher — Charles  Beecher  as  an 
Author — Henry  Ward  Beecher  and  his  Nephew — Mrs. 
Beecher’s  “ Dawn  to  Daylight.” 

"VT EARLY  thirty  years  ago  I became  the  first  New  York 
publisher  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  by  issuing  for 
him  a new  book,  entitled  “ Star  Papers,  or,  Experiences  of 
Art  and  Nature."”  This  volume  was  a collection  of  his 
contributions  to  the  New  York  Independent.  They  were 
received  with  so  much  favor  that  the  author  was  induced 
at  the  solicitation  of  many  friends  to  collect  them  for  pub- 
lication, and  as  soon  as  the  volume  was  ready  for  sale  it 
was  in  great  demand,  edition  after  edition  following  each 
other  in  rapid  succession. 

The  author  introduces  the  volume  to  his  readers,  as  fol- 
lows : 

“ The  author  has  been  saved  the  trouble  of  searching  for  a title 
to  his  book,  from  the  simple  circumstance,  that  the  articles  of 
which  the  work  is  made  up  appeared  in  the  columns  of  the  New 
York  Independent , with  the  signature  of  a star  ; and,  having  been 


462 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


familiarly  called  the  Star  Articles,  by  way  of  designation,  they 
now  become,  in  a book  form,  Star  Papers. 

“ Only  such  articles  as  related  to  art  and  to  rural  affairs  have  been 
published  in  the  volume.  It  was  thought  best  to  put  all  contro- 
versial articles  in  another,  and  subsequent  volume. 

“ The  letters  from  Europe  were  written  to  home  friends,  during 
a visit  of  only  four  weeks  ; a period  too  short  to  allow  the  subsi- 
dence of  that  enthusiasm,  which  every  person  must  needs  experi- 
ence, who,  for  the  first  time,  stands  in  the  historic  places  of  the 
Old  World.  An  attempt  to  exclude  from  these  letters,  any  excess 
of  personal  feeling,  to  reduce  them  to  a more  moderate  tone,  to 
correct  their  judgments,  or  to  extract  from  them  the  fiery  particles 
of  enthusiasm,  would  have  taken  away  their  very  life. 

The  other  papers  in  this  volume,  for  the  most  part,  were  writ- 
ten from  the  solitudes  of  the  country,  during  the  vacation  of  three 
summers.  I can  express  no  kinder  wish  for  those  who  may  read 
them,  than  that  they  may  be  one  half  as  happy  in  the  reading,  as  I 
have  been  in  the  scenes  which  gave  them  birth.” 

A second  volume,  entitled  “New  Star  Papers,  or,  Views 
and  Experiences  of  Religious  Subjects,”  which  was  also 
made  up  from  like  contributions  to  the  Independent , 
followed  in  1859.  Of  this  volume  the  author  says  in  his 
preface,  “ If  unworthy  of  a book  form  the  public  has  itself 
to  blame  in  part,  for  encouraging  a like  collection  of  Star 
Papers  some  years  ago.” 

His  third  volume  was  entitled  “ Plain  and  Pleasant 
Talks  about  Fruits,  Flowers  and  Farming,”  which  title  was 
selected  by  myself.  The  prefatory  remarks  in  this  volume 
are  in  a measure  autobiographical,  and  cannot  fail  to  prove 
interesting  to  the  friends  of  Mr.  Beecher,  in  what  he  says 
of  himself  when  a young  minister  nearly  forty  years  ago, 
then  living  in  Indiana  : 

“ It  is  now  twenty  years  since  we  settled  at  Indianapolis,  the 
capital  of  Indiana,  a place  then  of  four,  and  now  of  twenty-five 
thousand  inhabitants.*  At  that  time,  and  for  years  afterwards, 


* In  1859. 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


463 


there  was  not,  within  our  knowledge,  any  other  than  political 
newspapers  in  the  state — no  educational  journals,  no  agricultural 
or  family  papers.  The  Indiana  Journal  at  length  proposed  to 
introduce  an  agricultural  department,  the  matter  of  which  should 
every  month  be  printed,  in  magazine  form,  under  the  title, 
Indiana  Farmer  and  Gardener,  which  was  afterwards  changed  to  the 
more  comprehensive  title,  Western  Farmer  and  Gardener.  It  may  be 
of  service  to  the  young,  as  showing  how  valuable  the  fragments 
of  time  may  become  if  mention  is  made  of  the  way  in  which  we 
became  prepared  to  edit  this  journal.  The  continued  taxation 
of  daily  preaching,  extending  through  months,  and  once  through 
eighteen  consecutive  months,  without  the  exception  of  a single 
day,  began  to  wear  upon  the  nerves  and  made  it  necessary  for 
us  to  seek  some  relaxation.  Accordingly  we  used,  after  each 
week-night’s  preaching,  to  drive  the  sermon  out  of  our  heads  by 
some  alterative  reading.  In  the  State  Library  were  Laudon’s 
works,  his  encyclopaedias  of  horticulture,  of  agriculture,  ;md  of 
architecture.  We  fell  upon  them,  and,  for  years,  almost  monopo- 
lized them.  In  our  little  one-story  cottage,  after  the  day's  work 
was  done,  we  pored  over  these  monuments  of  an  almost  incredible 
industry,  and  read,  we  suppose,  not  only  every  line,  but  much  of 
it  many  times  over;  until,  at  length,  we  had  a topographical 
knowledge  of  many  of  the  fine  English  estates — quite  as  intimate, 
we  dare  say,  as  was  possessed  by  many  of  their  truant  owners.  A 
seedsman’s  list,  a nurseryman’s  catalogue,  are  more  fascinating  to 
us  than  any  story.  In  this  way,  through  several  years,  we  gradu- 
ally accumulated  materials  and  became  familiar  with  facts  and 
principles  which  paved  the  way  for  editorial  labors.  Lindley’s 
‘Horticulture,’  and  Gray’s  ‘Structural  Botany’  came  in  as  con- 
stant companions.  And  when,  at  length,  through*  a friend’s 
liberality,  we  became  the  recipients  of  the  London  Gardener's 
Chronicle , edited  by  Professor  Lindley,  our  treasures  were  inestim- 
able. Many  hundred  times  have  we  lain  awake  for  hours,  unable 
to  throw  off  the  excitement  of  preaching,  and  beguiling  the  time 
with  imaginary  visits  to  the  Chiswick  Garden,  to  the  more  than 
Oriental  magnificence  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire’s  grounds  at 
Chatsworth.  We  have  had  long  discussions  in  that  little  bed- 
room at  Indianapolis,  with  Van  Mous,  about  pears,  with  Sibert 
about  roses,  with  Thompson  and  Knight  of  fruits  and  theories  of 
vegetable  life,  and  with  Laudon  about  everything  under  the 
heavens  in  the  horticultural  world.  This  employment  of  waste 


464 


1 HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


hours,  not  only  answered  a purpose  of  soothing  excited  nerves 
then,  but  brought  us  into  such  relations  to  the  material  world, 
that,  we  speak  with  entire  moderation,  when  we  say  that  all  the 
estates  of  the  richest  duke  in  England  could  not  have  given  us 
half  the  pleasure  which  we  derived  from  pastures,  waysides  and 
unoccupied  prairies.” 

Mr.  Beecher  has  now  in  his  large  and  choice  library 
every  known  treatise  on  trees,  flowers  and  plants,  and  at 
his  beautiful  summer  residence  at  Peekskill,  on  the  Hud- 
son, over  six  thousand  ornamental  shade  trees. 

“ Beecher’s  Life  Thoughts,”  a volume  of  gems  selected 
by  Edna  Dean  Proctor  from  his  sermons,  had  an  enormous 
sale.  Although  the  Plymouth  pastor  gave  his  consent  that 
a volume  of  that  kind  might  be  published,  he  neverreceived 
a penny  copyright  for  it.  The  same  is  true  of  “ Notes  of 
Plymouth  Pulpit,”  by  Augusta  Moore.  The  two  were 
published  together  in  England  under  one  title,  “ Life 
Thoughts.” 

Mr.  Beecher  tells  an  amusing  story  about  my  good 
friend  A.  D.  F.  Randolph.  The  latter,  meeting  a friend 
of  his  one  day  and  handing  him  a small  volume  said:  “ Take 
this  and  see  how  you  like  it  ; I am  just  bringing  it  out.” 
The  friend  took  it  home.  The  next  time  Randolph  saw 
him  he  asked  : ee  How  did  you  like  that  little  book  ?”  “ I 
always  did  like  it,”  was  the  reply.  “ What  do  you  mean  ?” 
asked  Randolph  ; “ it  is  a new  English  book  just  reprinted 
here.”  “ I mean,”  said  the  man,  <c  I read  all  of  those  papers 
when  they  came  out  in  the  Independent ; they  are  all 
Beecher’s  articles.”  Randolph  then  wrote  Mr.  Beecher  a 
letter  about  it,  and  said  he  had  no  intention  of  violating 
his  copyright.  Mr.  Beecher  answered,  “ Go  ahead  ! I shall 
not  object  to  your  publishing  it.”  In  this  book  there  was 
no  hint  given  of  the  authorship. 

When  Mr.  Beecher  was  in  London  in  1863,  he  searched 
out  the  English  publisher  and  said  : “ What  under  the 
heavens  is  the  reason,  when  you  took  that  book  of  mine, 
you  did  not  refer  to  me  ?”  “ I had  no  intention  of  defraud- 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


465 


ing  you,”  was  the  reply,  “but  if  I had  printed  your  name 
in  the  book,  other  publishers  would  have  known  it  was  an 
American  hook,  and  they  would  have  printed  it  too  ” — 
(another  argument  for  an  International  copyright). 

When  Mr.  Beecher  was  in  Wales,  a little  Welsh  clergy- 
man came  to  call  on  him,  and  in  the  course  of  conversation 
spoke  of  being  quite  familiar  with  his  works,  “ Life 
Thoughts”  and  “ Royal  Truths.”  It  struck  him  at  once 
that  the  clergyman  was  trying  to  make  out  that  he  knew 
more  about  his  writings  than  he  really  did.  “ You  refer 
to  e Life  Thoughts/”  said  Mr.  Beecher,  “I  never  wrote  a 
book  with  such  a title  as  the  latter.”  “ Oh,  yes,”  said  he,  “ I 
will  get  it.”  He  went  home  and  brought  back  a book  with 
Mr.  Beecher's  name  on  it,  different  from  “ Life  Thoughts,” 
but  which  was  made  of  whole  pages  from  his  sermons,  and 
called  “Royal  Truths.”  He  had  never  seen  it  or  heard  of 
it  before.  When  he  came  back  to  this  country  he  brought 
over  a copy,  and  Ticknor,  Fields  & Co.,  published  it  under 
the  title  of  “Royal  Truths.”  “So  you  see,”  said  Mr. 
Beecher,  after  relating  to  me  this  incident,  “I  had  two 
children  born  and  wasn't  aware  of  it.” 

Hr.  Joseph  Parker,  of  the  City  Temple,  London,  whom 
I recently  met  at  Mr.  Beecher’s  beautiful  Peekskill  resi- 
dence, gave  me  as  his  opinion  that  no  man  has  exercised 
a more  stimulating  and  ennobling  effect  upon  the  pulpit 
life  and  literature  of  England  than  Mr.  Beecher.  His 
sermons  in  newspapers  and  in  volumes  are  to  be  found  in 
every  quarter  of  the  old  country,  and  ministers  of  every 
age  are  not  afraid  to  say  that  they  have  founded  their  min- 
istry upon  the  lines  of  the  illustrious  Plymouth  Church 
pastor. 

Dr.  Parker  is  the  author  of  those  well  known  Evangel- 
ical volumes  “ Ecce  Deus  ” and  “The  Inner  Life  of 
Christ.” 

Another  of  Mr.  Beecher’s  clerical  friends  writes  : 

“As  an  author,  Mr.  Beecher  may,  by  the  number  of  his 
20* 


466 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


works  published,  justly  rank  among  the  most  prolific  writ- 
ers. He  is  the  literary  father  of  thirty-five  volumes,  and 
if  the  writings  published  without  his  sanction  should  be 
added  to  the  list,  the  number  would  increase  to  over  fifty. 
His  intenser  sympathy  with  the  living  questions  of  the 
hour,  have  been,  perhaps,  an  inevitable  hindrance  to  liter- 
ary finish  and  completeness. 

Mr.  Beecher  once  gave  me  an  account  of  the  origin  of 
his  first  book,  his  “ Lectures  to  Young  Men.”  It  grew 
up  in  his  parish.  Ministers  were  accustomed,  he  said,  to 
give  lectures,  and  he  concluded  to  give  these.  One  subject 
suggested  itself  after  another,  and  he  wrote  them  all  care- 
fully. They  attracted  a good  deal  of  attention  at  the  time. 

There  was  a man  in  Indianapolis  named  Cutler,  who  was 
a journeyman  in  the  printing-office  of  John  W.  Defrees, 
who  afterwards  became  Congressional  printer.  This  Cutler, 
who  was  a member  of  Mr.  Beecher’s  church,  came  to  him 
at  one  time  and  said  he  would  like  to  start  in  the  publishing 
business,  and  wanted  to  know  if  he  would  give  him  those 
lectures  to  start  on.  Mr.  Beecher  consented  to  do  so,  and 
an  arrangement  was  made.  Cutler  was  to  have  the  whole 
copyright  to  encourage  him,  for  a term  of  years.  Said  Mr. 
Beecher,  te  When  I first  sat  down  to  prepare  them  for  the 
press,  I took  up  the  lecture  on  ‘ Industry  and  Indolence.’ 
Said  I to  myself,  f I have  gone  through  these  with  my  own 
ideas,  now  perhaps  it  might  be  well  to  see  what  others  have 
written  also  ; it  might  suggest  something.’  I then  took  up 
a work  containing  twro  or  three  sermons  on  the  same  sub- 
ject by  Isaac  Barrow,  who  was  a great  favorite  of  mine. 
Before  I had  read  them  half  through,  I found  Barrow  had  said 
all  I had,  and  had  said  it  a great  deal  better.  I then  slung 
my  manuscript  under  the  bookcase  and  there  I left  it.  A 
man  by  the  name  of  Eckert,”  continued  Mr.  Beecher,  “a 
harness-maker,  was  all  the  time  talking  to  me  about  some 
lectures  to  young  men  written  by  Rev.  Mr.  Smith  of  Wash- 
ington, and  he  wanted  me  to  read  them.  After  I had 
finished  two  of  the  lectures,  I said,  ‘ My  goodness ! If 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


467 


these  lectures  can  be  read  with  such  ardor,  I think  my  poor 
little  book  might  as  well  come  out  from  under  the  bookcase 
there.’  So  I went  on  and  finished  it.” 

Beecher’s  “ Lectures  to  Young  Men”  was  first  published 
more  than  forty  years  ago.  It  has  gone  through  many 
editions  and  was  published  in  an  enlarged  form  by  my  firm 
in  1859,  and  is  now  published  by  D.  Appleton  & Co. 

While  Mr.  Beecher  was  preaching  in  Indianapolis,  Mar- 
tin Van  Buren  (afterwards  President)  was  passing  through 
the  place,  and  as  he  intended  to  spend  Sunday  there, 
some  friends  of  the  former  called  on  him  and  informed 
him  that  Van  Buren  would  attend  services  at  his  church  the 
next  day.  “He  is  certainly  welcome,”  said  Mr.  Beecher, 
“ there  is  plenty  of  room  there.”  “ We  thought,  possibly, 
you  might  like  to  know  it  as  it  might  make  some  difference,” 
said  one  of  them.  “ Oh,  no,”  said  Beecher,  “no  differ- 
ence. I should  preach  to  him  just  as  I would  to  any  other 
sinner.”  Van  Buren  attended  the  service.  Mr.  Beecher 
afterwards  met  some  of  the  gentlemen  who  had  called  upon 
him.  They  were  laughing  about  it,  and  one  of  them  said, 
“ Perhaps  you  would  like  to  hear  what  the  Ex-President 
bad  to  say  about  your  sermon.  He  said  he  thought  your 
trousers  didn’t  set  very  well  !” 

I once  asked  Mr.  Beecher  if  he  had  read  all  the  books 
written  by  his  brothers  and  sisters.  He  replied  “I  have 
made  it  a rule  of  my  life  to  read  none  of  the  writings  of 
my  relatives,  and  with  two  or  three  exceptions  have 
adhered  to  that  rule.”  He  then  related  an  anecdote  of  a 
man  that  was  condemned  to  death  in  Italy  for  some  poli- 
tical offense.  Numerous  petitions  were  made  for  his 
pardon.  His  sentence  was  afterwards  commuted,  on  the 
condition  that  he  should  read  a certain  voluminous,  but 
not  very  entertaining  History  of  Italy.  He  as  a matter 
of  course  chose  the  latter  alternative  and  commenced 
reading  the  work,  and  in  the  course  of  a week  sent  in  word 
that  “ he  would  rather  be  executed.” 

To  my  question  as  to  whether  he  had  read  any  of 


468 


IIENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


Ouida’s  works,  he  replied  : “I  have.  She  is  a powerful 
writer.  Her  descriptions  of  the  horse  are  vigorous  enough 
to  raise  a man  from  the  dead.  Her  writings  have  not 
much  repose,  they  are  full  of  fire  and  thunder.  And  that 
may  be  one  cause  of  their  popularity.” 

I then  asked  him  what  were  the  first  books  he  bought. 
He  replied  : “I  early  had  a passion  for  books.  When  I 
was  in  college  and  had  begun  to  lecture,  I was  invited  to 
go  to  Brattle  boro’  to  deliver  an  address  at  a temperance 
celebration  on  the  fourth  of  July.  The  honor  of  an  invi- 
tation was  considered  sufficient  compensation  for  the  lec- 
ture, but  they  paid  me  ten  dollars  for  my  expenses.  I 
walked  from  Amherst  to  Brattleboro’  and  walked  back 
again.  I saved  all  the  money  to  buy  books.  When  I was 
at  Amherst  I had  money  sent  to  me  to  come  home,  and  I 
walked  home  and  saved  that  money  also  to  buy  books.  I 
had  got  about  two  dozen  volumes  together  in  that  way. 
Among  the  books  obtained  in  this  way  were  Burke’s 
works,  in  three  volumes,  and  John  Milton’s  poetical  works 
in  two  volumes,  which  I bought  in  Boston.  I remember 
those  two  for  this  reason  : When  I graduated  there  was  no 
railway  to  convey  anything  to  Cincinnati,  and  all  freight 
going  to  that  city  was  sent  by  way  of  Hew  Orleans.  I had 
orders  from  my  father  to  pack  my  things  in  a box  and  send 
them  in  that  way,  but  they  never  reached  their  destination. 
About  two  years,  or  more,  after  that,  a cousin  of  mine, 
David  Beecher,  was  in  Hew  Orleans,  and  as  he  was  going  by 
an  auction  shop,  he  heard  an  auctioneer  shout,  ‘ Letters 
from  Lyman  Beecher.’  He  stepped  in,  bid  off  the  tv  hole 
lot,  and  he  found  among  the  books  my  college  exercises. 
There  had  been  some  misdirection  on  the  box  in  which 
these  books  were  sent,  and  they  were  put  in  a warehouse 
and  afterwards  sold  for  storage.  In  this  box  I had  put  all 
the  books  in  my  library  and  all  my  college  letters  and 
papers.  After  I began  to  write  for  Mr.  Bonner,  in  the 
Ledger , I wrote  an  article  describing  my  loss.  This  article 
came  into  the  hands  of  an  old  merchant,  who  had  bought 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


469 


my  books  at  the  auction  in  New  Orleans.  His  name  was 
John  Walton,  and  he  did  me  the  kindness  to  send  to  me 
my  copy  of  John  Milton.” 

This  book  Mr.  Beecher  has  now  in  his  possession.  He 
greatly  values  it,  not  only  from  its  romantic  history,  but 
as  his  first  purchase  of  the  beginning  of  an  extensive  col- 
lection of  standard  authors  in  every  department  of  litera- 
ture which  now  enriches  his  extensive  library. 

Mr.  Beecher  removed  to  Brooklyn,  from  Indianapolis, 
in  the  year  1847.  That  excellent  authority  the  American 
Cyclopedia  speaks  of  him  as  follows  : 

“ Here  almost  from  the  outset  he  began  to  acquire  that  reputa- 
tion as  a pulpit  orator  which  has  been  maintained  and  increased 
during  a quarter  of  a century.  The  church  and  congregation 
under  his  charge  are  probably  the  largest  in  America.  He  has 
always  discarded  the  mere  conventionalities  of  the  clerical  pro- 
fession. In  his  view  humor  has  a place  in  a sermon  as  well  as 
argument  and  exhortation.  He  is  fond  of  illustration,  drawing  his 
material  from  every  sphere  of  human  life  and  thought;  and  his 
manner  is  highly  dramatic.  Though  his  keen  sense  of  humor 
continually  manifests  itself,  the  prevailing  impression  given  by 
his  discourses  is  one  of  intense  earnestness.  The  cardinal  idea  of 
his  creed  is  that  Christianity  is  not  a series  of  philosophical  or 
metaphysical  dogmas,  but  a rule  of  life  in  every  phase.  Hence 
he  has  never  hesitated  to  discuss  from  the  pulpit  the  great  social 
and  political  questions  of  the  day,  such  as  slavery,  intemperance, 
licentiousness,  the  lust  for  power  and  the  greed  for  gain.  He  is 
an  authority  in  music,  a connoisseur  in  art,  a lover  of  flowers  and 
animals,  and  I may  add  in  addition  a bibliophile  in  the  fullest 
sense  of  the  word.” 

Before  Mr.  Beecher  was  installed  as  the  Plymouth 
pastor  he  was  examined  as  to  his  theology  by  a Congrega- 
tional Council.  One  of  the  questions  asked  him  was,  “ Do 
you  believe  in  the  perseverance  of  the  saints  ?”  The  good 
Doctor,  who  propounded  the  question,  was  his  college 
father,  and  thinking  his  son  was  not  doing  himself  much 
credit  in  the  theological  line,  hoped  to  put  a question 
which  he  could  not  fail  to  answer  right. 


470 


HENRY  WARD  BEECIIER. 


“I  was  brought  up  to  believe  that  doctrine,”  said  Mr. 
Beecher,  “and  I did  believe  it  till  I went  out  West  and 
saw  how  Eastern  Christians  lived  when  they  went  out 
there.  I confess  since  then  I have  had  my  doubts.” 

Mr.  Beecher  immediately  announced  in  Plymouth  pul- 
pit the  same  principles  that  he  had  in  Indianapolis,  name- 
ly, his  determination  to  preach  Christ  among  them,  not  as 
an  absolute  system  of  doctrines,  not  as  a by-gone  historical 
personage,  but  as  the  living  Lord  and  God,  and  to  bring  all 
the  ways  and  usages  of  society  to  the  test  of  His  standard. 
He  announced  to  all  whom  it  might  concern,  that  he  con- 
sidered temperance  and  anti-slavery  a part  of  the  gospel  of 
Christ,  and  should  preach  them  accordingly. 

The  ISTew  York  Tribune , in  speaking  recently  of  the 
eloquent  eulogy  of  Mr.  Beecher  on  the  late  Wendell  Phil- 
lips, says  : 

“When  the  life  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher  comes  to  be 
written  after  his  work  is  finished,  his  biographer  will  not 
easily  find  for  him  a higher  claim  to  the  esteem  of  his  fel- 
low-countrymen than  is  involved  in  the  following  sentence 
from  his  discourse  of  last  Sunday  : 4 There  never  has  been 
a day  since  I became  the  pastor  of  Plymouth  Church  that 
a respectable  colored  man  or  woman  could  not  have  come 
in  and  taken  a seat  in  this  church/  It  wears  on  its  face  a 
commonplace  statement,  but  to  all  who  remember  the  past 
it  means  that  here  was  a man  with  courage  to  preach  the 
gospel  as  it  was  written,  at  a time  when  many  churches 
had  agreed  to  dehumanize  the  negro.” 

Mr.  Beecher  is  very  strong  in  his  attachments.  In 
talking  with  him  on  one  occasion  about  Robert  Bonner,  he 
spoke  of  him  as  follows  : 

44 1 have  had  a good  deal  to  do  with  many  men,  and  my 
business  experience  with  them  has  been  quite  a checkered 
one,  but  I have  never  been  connected  with  anybody, 
friend  or  stranger  in  business,  who  has  treated  me  with 
so  much  generosity  or  as  much  delicacy  as  Robert  Bonner. 
I always  made  it  a point  of  honor,  never  to  fail  in  any  en- 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


471 


gagement  I made  with  him,  from  week  to  week.  Fre- 
quently, when  it  seemed  to  me  that  I hadn't  anything  to 
say,  I would  go  right  to  the  office  and  write,  forcing  nature, 
rather  than  fail  in  an  engagement  made  with  him.  This 
is  what  I would  not  have  done  for  any  other  man  living. 
I shall  always  retain  to  my  death  very  warm  and  grate- 
ful appreciation  of  his  services  to  me.  He  got  out  of  me 
what  nobody  else  could. 

“ When  Bonner  proposed  that  novel,  ‘ Norwood,'*  to  me, 
I had  no  idea  of  writing  it.  I was  conducting  a prayer- 
meeting one  morning,  when  a boy  came  in  with  a little  note 
which  said,  * You  asked  me  how  much  I gave  to  Edward 
Everett  for  all  his  writings  in  the  Ledger.  I allowed  him 
$24,000,  and  if  you  will  write  a story  for  the  Ledger ' 
(covering  a given  number  of  columns),  4 1 will  pay  you  an 
equal  amount.'  A clap  of  thunder  would  not  have  been 
more  astounding  to  me.  I laughed  as  I read  the  dispatch. 
I refused  at  first,  but  he  continued  to  talk  to  me  about 
it,  until  finally  I agreed  to  do  it.  Then  I couldn't  get  my- 
self to  begin.  I didn't  believe  I could  accomplish  it.  It 
was  entirely  out  of  the  line  of  all  my  habits  of  thought. 
But  Mr.  Bonner  encouraged  me,  and  I finally  commenced 
it.  When  I had  got  about  two-thirds  through,  he  wrote 
me  a little  note  one  day,  saying,  4 When  all  the  matter 
which  is  now  in  type  shall  have  been  published,  you  will 
have  fulfilled  your  part  of  the  contract.  I do  not  wish  to 
have  the  book  brought  to  a precipitate  close,  but  I wish 
you  to  go  on  and  complete  it  as  you  desire,  and  I will  pay 
you  $500  for  each  of  the  additional  chapters.'  Of  course  I 
felt  as  though  it  would  not  be  honorable  to  do  other  than 
bring  it  to  a close  as  quickly  as  I could  consistently  with 
the  story.  The  sum  paid  for  Norwood  amounted  to  $30,000." 

I once  asked  Mr.  Beecher  if  he  ever  indulged  in  smoking, 
and  to  my  question  he  said  : 

“ After  the  death  of  Lincoln,  I went  to  Washington  to 
preach  the  funeral  sermon  of  young  Dahlgren.  President 
Johnson  and  his  Cabinet  were  at  the  funeral.  At  the  close 


472 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


of  the  services  the  President  asked  me  to  call  upon  him  in 
the  afternoon.  Johnson  was  at  that  time  hanging  in  the 
wind,  not  knowing  which  way  he  should  go,  and  Stanton 
and  all  his  Northern  friends  were  extremely  anxious  that 
every  influence  should  be  brought  to  bear  upon  him  to  bring 
him  right.  It  was  on  that  errand  I was  sent.  Stanton  said 
to  me,  ‘ Come  right  down  to  my  house,  as  soon  as  you  see 
him/  After  my  interview  with  Johnson,  I went  to  Stan- 
ton’s house  the  same  evening.  He  introduced  me  hastily 
to  his  family,  then  drew  me  across  the  hall  into  his  study, 
and  we  sat  down  to  have  a right  good  talk  on  poetry,  liter- 
ature and  so  on.  You  know  how  I abhor  tobacco  in  all 
its  forms.  Stanton  was  staggering  under  the  weight  he 
was  carrying  in  that  war  period.  He  brought  out  his  box 
of  cigars.  I knew  instantly  that  if  I refused  to  smoke,  ho 
would  refuse,  and  have  a miserable  evening  of  it ; so  I 
quietly  took  a cigar.  He  commenced  smoking  his.  I 
played  with  mine  for  some  time,  till  I saw  that  he  noticed 
that  I was  not  smoking,  then  I took  a match,  lighted  my 
cigar  and  drew  a few  puffs  every  time  he  looked  up.  When 
I saw  his  was  coming  to  an  end,  I quietly  hid  mine  be- 
hind a book.  He  thought  I smoked  the  cigar.  Stanton 
and  asthma  are  the  only  influences  that  have  ever  induced 
me  to  try  to  smoke,  and  I made  a poor  fisc  of  it  every  time.” 

On  another  occasion  I asked  Mr.  Beecher  if  he  had  ever 
met  Irving.  He  said  : 

“ The  only  time  I ever  met  Washington  Irving  was  at  a 
dinner  given  by  the  printers  in  New  York.  I was  called 
upon  to  speak.  In  the  remarks  I made  I had  occasion  to 
allude  incidentally  to  the  man  who  had  such  a voice  that 
he  said  he  could  sing  base  to  thunder.  Irving  at  that  time 
had  never  heard  the  phrase  and  it  convulsed  him.  He  broke 
out  into  laughter  again  and  again.” 

Brady,  the  photographer,  gave  me  an  account  of  how 
the  representations  of  Irving,  which  are  now  universal, 
came  to  be  circulated,  instead  of  the  one  he  intended  to 
send  to  posterity.  The  latter,  I think,  was  painted  by  Inman, 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


473 


and  he  was  represented  as  a man  in  the  prime  of  life,  and 
very  handsome.  He  refused  to  sit  or  have  anyone  else 
paint  him.  He  had  a couple  of  nieces  to  whom  he  was 
very  much  attached.  On  the  eve  of  his  going  to  the  West 
Indies,  thinking  they  might  never  see  him  again,  they  per- 
suaded him  to  go  down  and  get  them  a photograph.  He 
consented  on  the  condition  that  they  would  never  part  with 
it.  Brady,  to  whom  he  then  went,  found  fault  with  the 
iirst  sitting  as  imperfect,  and  he  sat  the  second  time.  This 
picture  proved  to  be  a good  one.  But,  said  Brady,  with  a 
wink,  “I  put  the  first  one  away  and  kept  it.”  The  very 
week  that  Irving  died  he  brought  out  the  negative  and 
commenced  issuing  the  picture  of  Washington  Irving  as  he 
looked  in  his  old  age.  From  that  picture,  all  of  the  others 
have  been  derived.  It  is  the  one  that  now  is  universally 
prevalent,  and  has  thus  defeated  Irving’s  life-long  plan  of 
being  known  only  as  he  looked  in  middle  life.  “ What 
shadows  we  are,  what  shadows  we  pursue.” 

Mr.  Beecher  has  recently  returned  from  a lecturing  tour 
through  the  far  West  and  extreme  South.  He  was  received 
in  almost  every  place  he  visited  with  the  greatest  interest 
and  sometimes  with  enthusiasm,  especially  in  the  Southern 
States,  where,  a quarter  of  a century  ago,  he  would  not 
have  been  permitted  to  discourse  on  any  subject  what- 
ever. 

To  illustrate  the  great  change  in  public  opinion  in  the 
South,  the  following  description  of  Mr.  Beecher  from  a 
recent  number  of  the  Texas  Christian  Advocate , is  a 
good  example. 

“Such  eyes,  such  a brow,  such  a countenance  one  does  not 
often  see.  The  face  which  the  pictorial  papers  have  made  so 
familiar  to  the  country  is  dull,  heavy,  gross.  But  the  face  of  the 
man  who  stood  before  us  the  other  night  was  reverend,  spiritual, 
majestic,  and  when  in  repose  as  tender  as  a woman’s.  His  mind  is 
trained  to  what  would  seem  the  last  degree  of  culture.  It  obeys 
him  like  a well-oiled  machine,  without  halt  or  friction.  His  lan- 
guage is  pure,  beautiful,  vigorous  and  seemingly  exhaustless.  He 


474 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


can  harness  as  many  adjectives  to  a noun  as  one  Esquimau  does 
dogs  to  his  sled,  and  have  some  to  spare.  His  powers  of  illustra- 
tion are  phenomenal.  Through  these  open  windows  the  light 
rushes  upon  his  discourse,  no  part  in  obscurity.  His  delivery  is 
not  that  of  oratory,  as  it  is  commonly  understood.  It  is  rather  a 
sublime  kind  of  talking.  Yet  from  this  level  he  is  ready  at  any 
moment  to  rise.  Closely  observing  him  you  see  a peculiar  shrug 
of  the  right  shoulder — then  look  out!  The  face  glows,  the 
shoulders  square  themselves,  up  goes  the  voice  and  down  comes  a 
grand  period,  while  you  hold  your  breath  until  it  is  over.  In 
delivering  himself  upon  hi3  audience  the  whole  man  comes  into 
play.  You  see  reason,  memory,  imagination,  judgment,  fancy. 
You  hear  wit,  humor,  sarcasm,  pathos,  thought,  sentiment.  You 
listen  to  the  eye  and  the  hand  as  well  as  to  the  tongue.  Body, 
mind  and  soul  speak  at  once.  Every  string  of  the  harp  is  touched. 
All  the  octaves  tremble.  And  'whatever  the  music  be  the  harp  is 
golden.  An  old  man  past  seventy,  after  fifty  years  of  steady  labor 
standing  before  an  audience  for  two  hours,  with  so  perfect  a com- 
mand of  mind  and  body  as  to  remain  during  all  that  time  master 
of  himself  and  them,  and  looking  at  the  end  as  fresh  as  at  the  be- 
ginning, is  a phenomenon  that  sets  one  thinking.  What  is  behind 
all  that!  Men  do  not  come  into  that  power  suddenly.  Something 
behind  it  there  is.  What?  Culture — long  years  of  culture — cul- 
ture for  both  mind  and  body.  The  very  sight  of  such  a training 
is  a lesson  to  every  man  who  is  trying  to  fill  a pulpit.” 

Rev.  Charles  Beecher  has  written  several  volumes,  one 
of  which,  “Pen  Pictures  of  the  Bible”  was  published  by 
my  firm  in  1855.  He  also  assisted  his  brother  in  preparing 
the  celebrated  Plymouth  Collection  of  Hymns  and  Tunes, 
now  in  use  in  the  pastor's  church.  He  was  also  one  of  the 
authors,  in  connection  with  Mrs.  Stowe,  of  “Sunny  Mem- 
ories of  Foreign  Lands,”  of  which  I was  the  New  York  pub- 
lisher in  1854. 

It  is  fitting  that  the  name  of  Frederick  B.  Perkins,  the 
well  known  librarian  of  the  San  Francisco  Library,  should 
be  mentioned  in  this  sketch  of  the  Beecher  family,  his 
mother  being  one  of  the  daughters  of  Lyman  Beecher.  Mr. 
Perkins'  novel  entitled  “Scrope,  or  the  Lost  Library,” 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


475 


published  some  years  since,  was  very  well  received  by  the 
public.  He  was  at  one  time  editor  of  Putnam’s  Magazine , 
and  later  associate  author  with  G.  Haven  Putnam,  of  the  book 
entitled  “Best  Reading."  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  once 
said  of  him,  “ Fred  is  a perfect  encyclopedia  ; aside  from  a 
great  deal  of  useful  knowledge,  political,  scientific  and  phil- 
osophical, he  knows  more  things  that  are  absolutely  worth- 
less than  any  man  living.  For  instance,  about  a button 
that  somebody  wore  a thousand  years  ago.  He  is  an  arch- 
aeologist though  of  the  first  water." 

Mrs.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  is  not  without  claim  to 
authorship.  In  the  year  1859  she  called  upon  me  with  a 
manuscript  which  she  told  me  was  a simple  record  of  the 
early  career  of  the  married  life  of  herself  and  husband.  She 
wanted  it  published  anonymously,  which  I was  willing  to 
do,  provided  her  husband  would  give  his  consent.  She  said 
she  wanted  to  keep  it  a secret  from  him  until  the  book  was 
ready.  Finally,  however,  she  agreed  to  see  her  husband 
on  the  subject,  which  she  did,  and  told  him  the  conditions 
on  which  the  book  would  be  published.  He  said,  “Tell 
Derby  if  he  wants  to  be  fool  enough  to  publish  a book  writ- 
ten by  my  wife,  to  go  ahead." 

Mrs.  Beecher  bore  me  the  message  with  a knowing 
smile.  She  said  the  manuscript  was  written  by  her  on  a 
sick  bed.  It  fell  into  her  daughter’s  hands  and  pleased  her 
so  well  that  the  latter  begged  her  to  publish  it.  She  con- 
sulted Mr.  Beecher  about  it  and  he  said  that  anything  that 
pleased  a young  girl  of  thirteen  and  without  being  harm- 
ful, must  be  good.  The  original  title  of  the  book  was 
“ Reminiscences  of  a Missionary’s  Wife."  My  firm 
issued  the  volume  “ From  Dawn  to  Daylight,"  which 
without  any  knowledge  of  its  authorship  was  well  received 
by  the  public.  Several  editions  were  sold. 

Among  other  favorable  notices  at  the  time,  is  the  fol- 
lowing written  by  Robert  Bonner. 

“ ‘From  Dawn  to  Daylight,  or,  The  Simple  Story  of  a Western 
Home;  by  a Minister’s  Wife.’  It  is  not  often  that  we  call  attention 


476 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


to  new  books  in  the  Ledger  ; but  this  is  a work  of  such  peculiar 
interest  that  we  must  deviate  from  our  rule.  Were  the  name  of  the 
author  given  to  the  public,  we  think  the  work  would  make  a decided 
sensation.  This  much,  however,  we  will  say  of  her,  that  her  hus- 
band is  one  of  the  most  distinguished  and  popular  clergymen  in 
the  country,  so  much  so  indeed  that  you  can  scarcely  pick  up  a 
newspaper  in  which  you  do  not  find  his  name.  The  book  is  one 
which,  as  a contemporary  remarks,  will  make  the  reader  the  better 
for  the  reading,  while  at  the  same  time  it  abounds  in  entertaining 
sketches  of  experiences  and  scenes  which  must  interest  the  general 
reader.” 

Mrs.  Beecher  is  also  the  author  of  two  excellent  vol- 
umes— “Motherly  Talks”  and  “All  around  the  House,” 
both  admirably  adapted  to  the  use  of  young  housekeepers. 


XXVIII. 


GEORGE  E.  BAKER. 

A Political  Historian  and  Modern  Boswell — Life  and 
Works  of  Reward — Founder  of  Prison  Association — 
Disbursing  Agent  for  State  Department — An  Excite- 
ment in  the  Cabinet — Author  startles  Government 
Officials — Old  James  Gordon  Bennett — “ 1 guess  it’s 
true , we’ll  prent  it  ”■ — Kossuth  makes  Daniel  Webster 
Weep—  Greeley  proposes  Bryant  for  Secretary  of  State 
— Splendid  Tribute  to  Seward’s  Works . 

rpHE  name  of  George  E.  Baker  may  well  be  classed 
among  the  writers  of  political  literature  in  this  coun- 
try. He  has  made  that  field  of  research  richer  by  his 
many  years  of  patient  toil  in  gathering  together  the  political 
writings  of  one  of  the  foremost  statesmen  which  this 
country  has  produced.  I refer  to  the  works  of  William  H. 
Seward,  which  have  just  been  published  in  five  large 
volumes,  by  Houghton,  Mifflin  & Oo.  As  Boswell  was  to 
Johnson,  so  has  Mr.  Baker  been  to  Seward,  the  confidential 
friend  and  biographer. 

It  is  just  thirty  years  since  J.  S.  Redfield,  formerly  a well- 
known  book  publisher,  issued  in  three  octavo  volumes  the 
works  of  William  H.  Seward,  which  Mr.  Baker  modestly 
introduces  to  the  public  as  follows  : 

“In  this  collection  of  Mr.  Seward’s  works,  it  is  intended  to 
present  to  the  public,  not  only  with  his  more  elaborate  speeches 
and  writings,  but  also  with  his  occasional  and  unstudied  efforts. 
The  principles  and  measures  of  public  policy,  which  he  has 

[477] 


478 


GEORGE  E.  BAKER. 


maintained,  receive  as  clear  an  illustration  from  the  latter  class  of 
his  productions,  as  from  his  more  systematic  and  finished  perform- 
ances. They  are  accordingly,  important  at  a time  when  the 
political  views  of  Mr.  Seward  have  become  the  subject  of  discus- 
sion, in  every  quarter  of  the  Union. 

“It  has  often  been  regretted  that  so  few  of  the  speeches  of  the 
eminent  men  of  a former  age  have  been  preserved.  The  history  of 
our  own  country  especially  has  suffered  from  this  neglect.  We 
search  in  vain  for  the  speeches  even  of  James  Otis,  which,  in  the 
words  of  one  of  his  contemporaries,  ‘ Breathed  the  breath  of  life 
into  this  Nation.’  The  facilities  of  the  present  day  leave  no  ex- 
cuse for  a similar  neglect  in  regard  to  our  own  orators  an-d 
statesmen. 

“ The  editor  of  these  volumes  though  by  no  means  unconscious 
of  his  slight  qualifications  for  so  important  a task,  has  attempted 
to  collect  and  prepare  for  publication  the  following  works  of 
William  H.  Seward.  A desire  to  aid  in  disseminating  the  doctrines 
and  principles  they  contain,  as  well  as  to  preserve  them  in  a per- 
manent form,  must  plead  an  apology.  For  a number  of  years  it 
has  been  his  wish  to  bring  these  works  before  the  public.  He  has 
only  waited  for  the  time  when  they  could  be  produced  without  ex- 
citing a suspicion  of  personal  or  partisan  objects.  That  time,  in 
his  opinion  has  arrived.  It  is,  however,  perhaps,  too  much  to 
expect,  even  now,  a candid  hearing  from  all  parties.  ‘Nothing,’ 
says  Mr.  Seward  in  one  of  his  letters,  ‘ that  I can  say  or  do,  or  that 
can  be  said  or  done  by  my  friends,  is  suffered  to  pass  without  ex- 
citing alarm,  lest  it  may  have  an  ambitious  design  that  I almost 
despise.’ 

“To  the  friends  of  Republican  principles,  and  of  the  claims  of 
justice  and  freedom  everywhere,  the  editor  believes  these  volumes 
will  be  welcome,  and  to  such  they  are  respectfully  dedicated.  To 
the  friends  of  Mr.  Seward,  also,  they  will  be  acceptable  as  a com- 
plete refutation  of  the  various  misrepresentations  of  his  acts  and 
opinions,  current  in  the  community,  supplying  a want  long  felt 
and  frequently  expressed.  To  many  of  these  friends  the  editor 
is  already  indebted  for  assistance  and  encouragement  in  his 
undertaking,  for  which  he  avails  himself  in  this  place  to  express 
his  acknowledgments.” 


About  the  same  time  Mr.  Redfield  published,  in  a 
smaller  volume,  a “Life  of  William  H.  Seward,”  by  Mr. 


GEORGE  E.  BAKER. 


479 


Baker,  which  was  well  received  by  the  public.  Being  a 
resident  of  Auburn  at  that  time  and  a personal  and  poli- 
tical friend  of  the  subject  of  Mr.  Baker’s  memoir,  it  natur- 
ally brought  me  into  a friendly  acquaintance  with  the 
latter,  who,  although  a native  of  Massachusetts,  has  spent 
the  larger  portion  of  his  life  in  the  State  of  his  adoption. 

Indoctrinated  in  early  manhood  with  the  political  views 
of  Horace  Mann  and  Charles  Sumner  he,  on  becoming  a 
citizen  of  New  York,  naturally  recognized  in  William  H. 
Seward,  who  was  then  governor  of  the  State,  the  leader  of 
political  reforms,  including  the  abolition  of  slavery.  Time 
and  experience,  he  says,  only  confirmed  his  faith.  To 
make  Mr.  Seward’s  principles  known,  became  the  ruling 
passion  and  has  been  the  labor  of  Mr.  Baker’s  life.  He  was 
elected  to  the  Legislature  of  his  adopted  State  from  one  of 
the  Brooklyn  districts  in  1850  as  a “ Seward  Whig,”  and  i.n 
his  speeches  and  votes  maintained  the  doctrine  of  Seward- 
ism  during  his  legislative  career. 

In  1854  Mr.  Baker  was  appointed  private  secretary  to 
Myron  H.  Clark,  who  had  been  elected  governor  of  the  State 
on  a temperance  issue.  Governor  Clark  had  little,  if  any, 
experience  in  administrative  duties,  and  Mr.  Baker,  being 
thoroughly  posted  in  such  matters,  was  considered  at  one 
time  as  the  real  acting  governor  of  the  State,  the  Legis- 
lature, without  opposition,  voting  him  a considerable  sum 
for  services  rendered  the  State. 

Mr.  Baker  was  among  the  founders  of  the  Prison  Asso- 
ciation of  New  York  in  1844,  and  was  a friend  and  coad- 
jutor of  the  late  Isaac  T.  Hopper  in  the  reform  instituted 
by  that  society.  In  1851  he  was  appointed  by  the  Legisla- 
ture to  investigate  the  condition  of  the  State  prisons  and 
spent  a good  part  of  the  year  in  the  prisons  at  Auburn, 
Sing  Sing  and  Clinton.  The  report  made  by  him  at  the 
ensuing  session  of  the  Legislature  and  many  of  the  reforms 
recommended  were  afterwards  enacted  into  laws. 

When  Mr.  Seward,  in  March,  1861,  entered  upon  his 
duties  as  Secretary  of  State  he  appointed  Mr.  Baker  to  the 


480 


GEORGE  E.  BAKER. 


responsible  office  of  Disbursing  Agent  of  the  Department 
of  State,  which  brought  him  into  close  relations  with  all 
those  engaged  in  diplomatic  service  of  the  United  States, 
including  the  charge  and  disbursement  of  the  Secret  Service 
Fund.  This  important  position  was  held  by  him  through 
the  whole  time  of  Mr.  Seward's  official  life  as  Secretary  of 
State. 

He  was  continued  by  Mr.  Seward's  successor,  the  Hon. 
Hamilton  Fish,  and  held  the  position  during  the  session  of 
the  Joint  High  Commission  and  until  July,  1871,  when  he 
resigned  to  take  the  office  of  Comptroller  of  the  District 
of  Columbia.  Under  his  administration  the  loans  by  which 
the  great  improvements  in  Washington  were  made  were 
negotiated  through  the  First  National  Bank  of  New  York, 
of  which  his  son,  George  F.  Baker,  is  now  president. 

About  the  close  of  the  year  1862,  owing  to  the  repeated 
defeats  of  the  Union  Army,  a caucus  of  Republican  senators 
was  held,  and  passed  resolutions  advising  President  Lincoln 
to  remove  the  chief  member  of  his  Cabinet,  they  believing 
Mr.  Seward,  by  his  advice  to  the  President  was  the  cause  of 
the  military  disasters.  Mr.  Seward,  hearing  of  this  un- 
usual action  on  the  part  of  the  senators,  immediately  sent  in 
his  resignation,  which  was  quickly  followed  by  that  of  Mr. 
Chase,  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  The  result  of  their 
action  is  explained  in  the  following  letters  : 

“Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Dec.  20,  1862. 
“Hon.  William  H.  Sewakd  and  Hon.  Salmon  P.  Chase. 

“ Gentlemen: 

“You  have  respectively  tendered  me  your  resignations  as  Secre- 
tary of  State  and  Secretary  pf  the  Treasury  of  United  States.  I 
am  apprised  of  the  circumstances  which  may  render  this  course 
personally  desirable  to  each  of  you;  but,  after  most  anxious  con- 
sideration, my  deliberate  judgment  is,  that  the  public  interest 
does  not  admit  of  it.  I,  therefore,  have  to  request  that  you  will 
resume  the  duties  of  your  departments  respectively. 

“ Your  obedient  servant, 

“A.  Lincoln.” 


GEORGE  E.  BAKER. 


481 


“Department  of  State,  Washington,  Dec.  21,  1862. 

“ Sunday  Morning. 

“ My  Dear  Sir: 

“I  have  cheerfully  resumed  the  functions  of  this  department, 
in  obedience  to  your  command. 

“With  highest  respect,  your  hunble  servant, 

“William  H.  Seward. 

“ The  President  of  the  United  States.” 

This  digression  is  made  to  enable  me  to  state  here  an 
incident  which  occurred  at  the  time. 

Mr.  Baker’s  confidential  relations  were  of  such  a nature 
that  he  was  aware  of  this  action  before  it  was  made  public. 
He  communicated  to  me  by  midnight  mail  the  startling 
news  which  I (then  the  Despatch  Agent  at  New  York),  at 
once  communicated  to  Hiram  Barney,  then  Collector  of  the 
port  of  New  York,  Abram  Wakeman,  Postmaster  at  New 
York,  and  the  late  John  J.  Cisco,  then  Assistant-Treasurer 
of  the  United  States  in  New  York.  None  of  them  could 
hardly  believe  the  startling  information  so  unexpected  to 
them  all.  I then  called  upon  Frederick  Hudson,*  then 
managing  editor  of  the  New  York  Herald,  and  gave  him 
the  information  I had  received  from  Mr.  Baker.  He  at 
once  conducted  me  to  the  editor-in-chief,  the  late  James 
Gordon  Bennett,  who  at  first  was  not  inclined  to  believe 
my  informant.  Scanning  me  closely  with  those  penetrat- 
ing eyes  of  his,  that  could  see  in  two  directions,  he  finally 
said,  “ I guess  it’s  true  ; we’ll prent  it.” 

An  extra  was  immediately  gotten  out  headed  “ Import- 
ant news  direct  by  telegram  from  Washington.”  As  the 
only  information  received  was  communicated  in  a letter  to 
me,  I then  learned  for  the  first  time  how  important  news 
from  distant  places  is  really  written  in  a newspaper  office. 

Mr.  Baker  is  full  of  interesting  recollections  of  eminent 

♦Author  of  that  interesting  volume  published  by  Harper  & 
Brothers,  “ History  of  Journalism,”  and  whose  tragic  death  at 
Concord  many  of  my  readers  will  remember. 

21 


r 


482 


GEORGE  E.  BAKER. 


men  ; lie  said  to  me  recently  that  after  Kossuth’s  arrival 
in  this  country  in  1851,  Daniel  Webster,  then  Secretary 
of  State,  in  a private  letter  to  a friend,  said  : “ His 
presence  here  will  be  quite  embarrassing  (owing  to  our 
friendly  relations  with  Austria),  I am  at  a good  deal  of  a 
loss  what  to  do  or  what  to  say.”  When  Kossuth  arrived  in 
Washington,  Webster  by  appointment  met  him  at  Mr. 
Seward’s  house,  thus  avoiding  anything  like  an  official  re- 
ception of  the  great  Hungarian.  Mr.  Seward  described  the 
meeting  as  one  of  intense  feeling  on  the  part  of  Webster 
and  Kossuth  alike.  The  latter  plead  the  cause  of  Hungary 
in  such  eloquent  terms  as  to  draw  tears  from  Mr.  Webster’s 
eyes,  while  he  remarked  : “ 0 ! he  is  a royal  fellow  !”  Mr. 
Seward  always  regarded  Kossuth’s  speech  as  the  most  elo- 
quent he  ever  heard.  The  next  day  Mr.  Webster,  accom- 
panied by  Mr.  Seward,  presented  Kossuth  to  the  President. 
Mr.  Seward  describes  Mr.  Fillmore’s  interview  with  Kossuth 
as  cold  and  formal,  in  marked  contrast  with  Mr.  Webster’s 
affecting  meeting  with  him  at  Mr.  Seward’s  house. 

On  another  occasion  Mr.  Seward  went  with  Mr.  Baker 
to  hear  Henry  Ward  Beecher  preach,  and  was  filled  with 
enthusiasm.  The  next  day,  meeting  Sumner,  he  said  to 
him  : “ You  ought  to  have  heard  Beecher  yesterday. 

There  was  more  eloquence  in  his  one  sermon  than  in  four- 
teen of  your  orations.” 

Mr.  Seward  and  Mr.  Sumner  were  on  very  intimate 
terms  while  they  were  Senators.  There  was  always  a seat 
at  Mr.  Seward’s  table  for  Mr.  Sumner.  The  former  gen- 
erally showed  his  written  speeches  to  the  latter,  before 
he  made  them  in  the  Senate  and  invited  criticism.  Once, 
Mr.  Sumner  induced  Mr.  Seward  to  change  the  verb  “ loan  ” 
to  “ lend.”  Mr.  Sumner  was  a worshipper  of  Judge  Story, 
and  Mr.  Seward  often  chaffed  the  Senator  by  referring  to 
Judge  Story’s  defense  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  in  the 
Prigg  case. 

Mr.  Baker  had  been  for  many  years  a friend  and  corre- 
spondent of  the  late  Horace  Greeley.  It  will  be  seen  in 


GEORGE  E.  BAKER. 


483 


one  of  the  following  letters,  that  the  latter  suggested, 
strange  to  say,  William  0.  Bryant,  with  whom  he  never 
had  any  intercourse  whatever,  for  Secretary  of  State. 


“New  York,  August  17,  1855. 


“My  Dear  Baker: 

“ I waut  to  suggest  a new  name  for  Secretary  of  State  in  case 
we  concede  that  office  (as  I think  best)  to  the  Democracy.  I pro- 
pose William  C.  Bryant.  You  know  I don’t  like  him  personally, 
nor  he  me,  but  I can’t  think  of  any  men  of  greater  mark ; and  I 
think  he  is  thoroughly  honest  and  capable.  Depend  on  it,  there 
are  a good  many  of  all  parties  who  would  gladly  and  proudly  vote 
for  him.  If  we  can  only  keep  off  the  ticket  names  of  all  who 
want  to  be  put  on,  I think  we  must  succeed.  And  I don’t  believe 
there  is  a man  in  the  State  who  has  less  idea  of  being  a State 
officer  than  Bryant.  Don’t  make  us  swallow  Ben.  Butler,*  if  there 
is  any  help  for  it.  He  would  go  very  hard. 

“ Yours, 

“ Horace  Greeley.” 


“New  York,  June  29,  1852. 

“ My  Dear  Sir  : 

•“I  can’t  make  a pyrotechnic  ten-minute  speech.  I can’t  say 
anything  worth  hearing  unless  I have  time  to  say  it  in  my  own 
way.  I was  over  to  Williamsburg  last  Fall  and  tried  to  say  some- 
thing, but  the  chairman  put  me  down  as  speaking  too  long,  which 
I presume  was  the  fact.  You  must,  therefore,  excuse  me  as  unfit 

for  this  sort  of  business,  and  call  in and and  our 

boys  who  can  melt  the  4th  of  July  into  Lundy’s  Lane,*  and  serve 
it  up  with  Chepultepecf  for  gravy.  I am  nothing  in  that  line. 

“ Yours, 

“George  E.  Baker.  Horace  Greeley.” 


Mr.  Baker  says  that  Mr.  Seward  once  said  to  him  • 
“ W hat  great  men  ever  made  almanacs  but  Franklin  and 
Greeley?”  and  then  added  that  full  justice  had  not  been 
done  to  the  subject  by  Mr.  Par  ton  in  his  interesting  bio- 
graphy. “ I had  hoped,"  said  Mr.  Seward,  “ to  write  the 


* Of  New  York. 

f Two  of  General  Scott’s  battles. 


484 


GEORGE  E.  BAKER. 


life  of  Mr.  Greeley  myself  some  day,  as  a labor  of  love,”  and 
then  he  ran  a parallel  with  the  two  .“philosophers.” 
“ But,”  said  Mr.  Baker,  “ Greeley  has  some  striking  weak- 
nesses.” “ So  had  Franklin,”  rejoined  Mr.  Seward,  and 
added  : “the  faults  of  great  men  drop  out  when  their  his- 
tory is  written.” 

Mr.  Seward  was  always  much  pleased  with  the  selections 
of  Mr.  Baker,  made  in  the  volumes  of  his  works.  In  look- 
ing over  them  on  one  occasion,  he  said  : “ I know  why  the 
Democrats  hate  me,  but  I don't  understand  why  the 
Whigs  do  !”  On  another  similar  occasion,  placing  his  hand 
on  the  volumes,  he  said  : “ These  will  be  good  books  to  die 
on.  The  heresies  are  all  in  !” 

The  Boston  Daily  Advertiser,  in  a long  review  of  the 
new  edition  of  William  H.  Seward's  works  just  completed, 
says  : 

“It  is  something  more  than  the  biography  of  a man — it  is  the 
biography  of  a nation.  The  collection  is  well  edited  by  Mr.  Baker, 
and  is  an  important  addition  to  our  political  literature.” 

In  a similar  extended  review  the  New  York  Evening 
Post  closes  as  follows  : 

“The  reading  of  Mr.  Seward’s  speeches  in  the  period  before 
the  -war  is,  and  will  long  be  a high  course  of  political  education. 

. . . The  record  is  now  complete,  and  there  is  hardly  any 

other  similar  monument  of  American  statesmanship  of  more 
enduring  value  for  the  student  of  history.” 


XXIX. 

FRANK  B.  CARPENTER. 


A Great  Historical  Painter — Opens  a Studio  in  New  York 
— Conceives  a Grand  Picture — Friends  appear  in  Time 
of  Need — Reception  by  President  Lincoln — “ We  to  ill 
turn  you  loose  in  here ” — The  Cry  of  Ethiopia  for  Help 
— Pope\s  Disaster  at  Bull  Run — Emancipation  Pro- 
clamation Issued — Immense  Sale  of  the  Picture — Mrs. 
Thompson’s  Munificent  Gift — Original  Painting  pre- 
sented to  the  Government — Abraham  Lincoln  and 
Artemus  Ward — Six  Months’  in  the  White  House. 

TH'RANK  B.  CARPENTER,  whose  name  is  now  recorded 
among  the  historical  painters  of  the  country,  is  a 
native  of  Homer,  N.  Y. 

Although  his  father  was  a farmer,  his  young  son  took 
no  interest  whatever  in  tilling  the  soil,  and,  much  against 
his  father’s  wishes,  was  continually  experimenting  with  a 
common  house-painter’s  brush  in  making  portraits.  One 
day  his  father,  becoming  impatient,  and  wanting  his  help 
for  farm  work,  instead  of  calling  him,  went  directly  to  the 
attic  where  the  embryo  artist  was  just  finishing  a picture. 
Striding  angrily  into  the  room,  he  suddenly  stopped  short. 
“ Who  is  that  ?”  he  asked  abruptly. 

“Don’t  you  know,  father?”  said  the  boy,  with  a roguish 
though  earnest  look. 

“It  is  your  mother,  I suppose,”  replied  the  father 
gruffly,  yet  honestly,  and  he  was  somewhat  conscience- 
stricken  when  he  saw  that  his  boy,  who  did  not  like  farm- 
ing, could  actually  make  a likeness. 


[485] 


486 


FRANK  B.  CARPENTER. 


The  first  sum  of  money  earned  by  young  Carpenter  was 
ten  dollars,  when  at  the  age  of  seventeen  he  painted  the 
portrait  of  Hon.  Henry  S.  Randall.  The  latter  was 
afterwards  elected  Secretary  of  State,  and  was  also  the 
author  of  the  interesting  and  valuable  life  of  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson, which  was  published  by  my  firm  in  the  year  1858. 

In  1851,  Mr.  Carpenter  opened  a studio  in  New  York 
City,  where  he  speedily  became  known  as  an  excellent 
portrait  painter.  The  conception  of  the  idea  of  a picture 
representing  the  President's  Emancipation  Proclamation 
before  the  Cabinet,  came  to  him  in  the  latter  part  of  1863. 

To  carry  out  his  cherished  idea  concerning  the  picture, 
two  things  were  necessary  : the  first,  to  procure  the  Presi- 
dent's consent,  and  the  co-operation  of  his  Cabinet,  the 
second,  a sufficient  sum  of  money  to  enable  him  to  spend 
the  necessary  time  in  Washington  to  paint  the  picture. 
Through  some  intimate  friends,  and  especially  Hon.  Schuy- 
ler Colfax  and  Hon.  Owen  Lovejoy,  who  represented  Mr. 
Lincoln's  district  in  Congress,  satisfactory  arrangement 
were  made  with  Mr.  Lincoln.  The  money  question  had  a 
curious  and  almost  providential  solution.  A former  ac- 
quaintance, whom  Mr.  Carpenter  had  not  seen  for  some  years, 
happened  to  be  looking  with  him  into  a window  on  Broad- 
way, where  some  pictures  were  exposed  to  view.  He  had 
heard  that  this  friend  had  been  successful  in  business  ven- 
tures, and  there  seemed  to  come  into  his  mind  the  words 
“ this  man  has  been  sent  to  you."  Full  of  this  impression, 
he  laid  before  the  friend  the  conception  of  what  he  wished 
to  undertake,  and  being  informed  of  the  consent  and  co- 
operation of  President  Lincoln,  his  friend  said,  “ You  shall 
paint  the  picture.  Take  plenty  of  time.  Make  it  the 
great  work  of  your  life,  and  draw  upon  me  for  whatever 
funds  you  may  need." 

On  February  4th,  1864,  the  artist  went  to  Washington 
and  made  all  the  necessary  arrangements  for  the  work  he 
had  to  do,  and  here  let  me  quote  from  his  interesting 


FRANK  B.  CARPENTER. 


487 


book  “Six  Months  in  the  White  House,”  to  which  I 
shall  have  occasion  to  refer  again. 

“The  appointed  hour  found  me  at  the  well-remembered  door 
of  the  offiqial  chamber — that  door  watched  daily  with  so  many 
conflicting  emotions  of  hope  and  fear  by  the  anxious  throng  regu- 
larly gathered  there.  The  President  had  preceded  me  and  was 
already  deep  in  Acts  of  Congress,  with  which  the  writing  desk 
was  strewed  awaiting  his  signature.  He  received  me  pleasantly, 
giving  me  a seat  near  his  own  arm-chair,  and  after  having  read 
Hon.  Ow^en  Lovejoy's  note,  he  took  off  his  spectacles  and  said  : 
‘ Well,  Mr.  Carpenter,  wTe  will  turn  you  in  loose  here  and  try  to 
give  you  a good  chance  to  work  out  your  idea.’  ” 

Then,  without  paying  much  attention  to  the  enthusias- 
tic expression  or  ambitious  desire  and  purpose  of  the 
artist  the  proceeded  to  give  him  a detailed  account  of 
the  history  and  issue  of  the  great  proclamation. 

“‘It  had  got  to  be,’  said  he,  ‘mid-summer,  1862.  Things 
had  gone  on  from  bad  to  worse,  until  I felt  that  we  had  reached 
the  end  of  our  rope  on  the  plan  of  operations  we  had  been  pur- 
suing, that  we  had  about  p'ayed  our  last  card  and  must  change 
our  tactics  or  lose  the  game.  I now  determined  upon  the  adop- 
tion of  the  emancipation  policy;  and  without  consultation  with,  or 
the  knowledge  of  the  Cabinet,  I prepared  the  original  draft  of 
the  proclamation,  and  after  much  anxious  thought,  called  a 
Cabinet  meeting  upon  the  subject.  This  was  the  last  of  July,  or 
the  first  part  of  the  month  of  August,  1862.’  (The  exact  date  he 
did  not  remember.)  ‘ This  Cabinet  meeting  took  place,  I think, 
upon  a Saturday.  All  were  present  except  Mr.  Blair,  the  Post- 
master General,  who  wTas  absent  at  the  opening  of  the  discussion, 
but  came  in  subsequently.  I said  to  the  Cabinet  that  I had  re- 
solved upon  this  step,  and  had  not  called  them  together  to  ask 
their  advice,  but  to  lay  the  subject-matter  before  them  ; sugges- 
tions as  to  which  would  be  in  order  after  they  had  heard  it  read. 
Mr.  Lovejoy,’  said  he,  ‘was  in  error  when  he  informed  you  that 
it  excited  no  comment,  excepting  on  the  part  of  Secretary  Seward. 
Various  suggestions  were  offered.  Secretary  Chase  wished  the 
language  stronger  in  reference  to  the  arming  of  blacks.  Mr. 
Blair,  after  he  came  in,  deprecated  the  policy,  on  the  ground  that 


488 


FRANK  B.  CARPENTER. 


it  would  cost  the  administration  the  fall  elections.  Nothing, 
however,  was  offeved  that  it  had  not  already  fully  anticipated  and 
settled  in  my  own  mind,  until  Secretary  Seward  spoke.  He  said 
in  substance  : ‘ Mr.  President,  I approve  of  the  proclamation,  but 
I question  the  expediency  of  its  issue  at  this  juncture.  The  de- 
pression of  the  public  mind,  consequent  upon  our  repeated  re- 
verses, is  so  great,  that  I fear  the  effect  of  so  important  a step.  It 
may  be  viewed  as  the  last  measure  of  an  exhausted  government,  a 
cry  for  help  ; the  government  stretching  forth  its  hands  to 
Ethiopia  instead  of  Ethiopia  stretching  forth  her  hand  to  the 
government.’  ‘ His  idea,’  said  the  President,  ‘ was  that  it  would  be 
considered  our  last  shriek,  on  the  retreat.’  (This  was  his  precise 
expression.)  ‘Now,  continued  Mr.  Seward,  ‘ while  I approve  the 
measure,  I suggest,  sir,  that  you  postpone  its  issue,  until  you  can 
give  it  to  the  country  supported  by  military  success,  instead  of 
issuing  it,  as  would  be  the  case  now,  upon  the  greatest  disasters 
of  the  war  !’  Mr.  Lincoln  continued  : ‘ The  wisdom  of  the  view 
of  the  Secretary  of  State  struck  me  with  very  great  force.  It  was 
an  aspect  of  the  case  that  in  all  my  thought  upon  the  subject,  I 
had  entirely  overlooked.  The  result  was  that  I put  the  draft  of 
the  proclamation  aside,  as  you  do  your  sketch  for  a picture,  wait- 
ing for  a victory.  From  time  to  time  I added  or  changed  a line, 
touching  it  up  here  and  there,  anxiously  watching  the  progress  of 
events.  Well,  the  next  news  we  had  was  of  Pope’s  disaster  at 
Bull  Run.  Things  looked  darker  than  ever.  Finally  came  the 
week  of  the  battle  of  Antiet&m.  I determined  to  wait  no  longer. 
The  news  came,  I think,  on  Wednesday,  that  the  advantage  was 
on  our  side.  I was  then  staying  at  the  Soldier’s  Home  (three 
miles  out  of  Washington).  Here  I finished  writing  the  second 
draft  of  the  preliminary  proclamation,  came  up  on  Saturday, 
called  the  Cabinet  together  to  hear  it,  and  it  was  published  the 
following  Monday.’  ” 

“Having  concluded  this  interesting  statement,  the  Pres- 
ident then  proceeded  to  show  me  the  various  positions  oc- 
cupied by  himself  and  the  different  members  of  the  Cabi- 
net, on  the  occasion  of  the  first  meeting.  “As  nearly  as  I 
remember,"  said  he,  “ I sat  near  the  head  of  the  table. 
The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  the  Secretary  of  War 


FRANK  B.  CARPENTER. 


489 


were  here  at  my  right  hand  ; the  others  were  grouped  at 
my  left.” 

The  artist  was  assigned  the  state  dining-room  for  a 
studio  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  was  engaged  on  the  work,  the 
dimensions  of  which  are  fourteen  feet  six  inches  by  nine 
feet,  from  February  .to  August,  1864. 

On  its  completion,  by  Mr.  Lincoln’s  consent,  it  was  ex- 
hibited for  two  days  in  the  East  room  of  the  White  House 
to  crowds  of  people.  Immediately  after  the  artist  entered 
into  a contract  with  my  firm  to  have  the  painting  engraved 
on  steel  by  A.  H.  Ritchie,  Derby  & Miller  to  be  the  pub- 
lishers. The  price  paid  Mr.  Ritchie  was  six  thousand  dol- 
lars for  the  steel  plate,  which  occupied  him  eighteen  months 
to  engrave.  For  several  months  after  the  plate  was  finished 
the  orders  could  only  be  supplied  by  printing  from  the 
plate  day  and  night.  The  subscription  list  for  the  engrav- 
ing was  headed  by  President  Lincoln  and  his  entire  Cabi- 
net, and  before  it  was  closed  embraced  the  names  of  almost 
every  distinguished  man  in  the  Northern  States.  Nearly 
thirty  thousand  impressions  were  printed  from  the  steel 
plate,  which  is  now  worn  out. 

In  1877,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Thompson,  a wealthy  and  pub- 
lic-spirited widow  lady  of  New  York  City,  learning  that 
the  painting  was  still  in  Mr.  Carpenter’s  possession,  fear- 
ing its  destruction  by  fire,  and  considering  that  the  rightful 
destination  of  this  painting  was  in  the  Capitol  at  Wash- 
ington, as  it  commemorated  an  event  in  our  history  second 
only  to  that  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  recently 
purchased  the  painting  for  the  artist’s  price — twenty-five 
thousand  dollars,  and  on  Lincoln’s  birthday,  February  12, 
1878,  it  was  formally  presented  to  the  United  States  on  be- 
half of  Mrs.  Thompson,  both  Houses  of  Congress  adjourn- 
ing in  honor  of  the  event. 

The  painting  was  placed  for  the  ceremony,  over  the 
Speaker’s  desk  and  chair,  occupying  considerable  space  in 
front  of  the  Reporters’  gallery.  The  House  of  Represen- 
tatives was  crowded  with  spectators,  hundreds  being  unable 
21* 


490 


FRANK  B.  CARPENTER. 


to  gain  admittance.  The  presentation  speech  was  made  by 
Hon.  James  A.  Garfield  on  behalf  of  Mrs.  Thompson.  He 
paid  a high  compliment  to  the  fidelity  of  the  painting,  its 
historic  value  and  the  generosity  of  the  donor,  and  then 
entered  upon  an  eloquent  paneygric  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his 
work,  followed  by  individual  tributes  to  the  different  mem- 
bers of  the  War  Cabinet. 

The  painting  was  received  on  behalf  of  Congress  by 
Hon.  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  late  vice-president  of  the  Com 
federate  States,  who  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  announced 
“slavery”  to  be  the  “ corner-stone  of  the  new  confeder- 
acy.” It  was  a sublime  sight  to  see  this  man  on  behalf  of 
the  Re-United  States,  accepting  a painting  commemorating 
the  downfall  of  slavery.  Mr.  Stephens  spoke  of  Mrs- 
Thompson’s  patriotic  action,  as  the  most  valuable  offering 
ever  made  to  the  Nation  by  a private  individual.  His  tri- 
bute to  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  work  was  very  remarkable, 
coming  from  the  vice-president  of  the  defunct  Confed- 
eracy, and  the  speech  throughout  excited  the  liveliest  inter- 
est in  all  who  heard  it,  and  was  widely  commented  on  by 
the  newspapers  of  the  country. 

The  painting  was  placed  in  one  of  the  only  two  vacant 
panels  in  the  Capitol,  the  panel  in  the  eastern  staircase  of 
the  House  of  Representatives.  In  the  panel  on  the  western 
side  is  Leutze’s  4 ‘ Westward  the  Course  of  Empire  takes  its 
way.” 

Both  Houses  of  Congress  passed  a joint  resolution  con- 
veying the  thanks  of  Congress  to  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Thomp- 
son, for  her  patriotic  action  in  the  presentation  of  the 
painting,  an  honor  never  before  conferred  upon  any  lady. 
This  entitles  her  to  the  privileges  enjoyed  only  by  Ex- 
Senators,  Ex-Members  and  Ex-Governors,  as  to  admission 
to  the  floor  of  both  Houses.  Mrs.  Thompson  is  the  only 
lady  in  the  United  States  who  can  rightfully  claim  this 
privilege  and  honor. 

During  Mr.  Carpenter’s  stay  at  the  White  House  he  had 
many  pleasant  conversations  with  President  Lincoln. 


FRANK  B.  CARPENTER. 


491 


On  one  occasion  the  latter  said,  “ There  are  some 
quaint,  queer  verses  written,  I think,  by  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes,  entitled  ‘The  Last  Leaf,’  one  of  which  is  to  mo 
inexpressibly  touching.”  He  then  repeated  from  memory 
the  verse  which  occurs  in  about  the  middle  of  the  poem, 
which  reads  as  follows  : 

“ The  mossy  marbles  rest, 

On  the  lips  that  he  has  pressed, 

In  their  bloom ; 

And  the  names  he  loved  to  hear, 

Have  been  carved  for  many  a year, 

On  the  tomb.” 

As  he  finished  this  verse  he  said  in  his  emphatic  way, 
“For  pure  pathos,  in  my  judgment,  there  is  nothing  finer 
than  those  six  lines  in  the  English  language.”  And  I 
think  President  Lincoln’s  judgment  coincides  with  that 
of  all  readers  of  that  exquisite  lyric. 

On  another'  occasion  Mr.  Lincoln  repeated  the  lines  of 
the  now  famous  poem, 

“ Oh  why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud  ?” 

which  the  artist  wrote  down  one  by  one  as  they  fell  from 
his  lips.  This  beautiful  poem  soon  became  famous,  although 
at  that  time  the  author  was  unknown.  It  was  subsequently 
ascertained  that  it  was  written  by  Richard  Knox,  a young 
Scotchman,  a contemporary  of  Sir  Walter  Scott.  This 
poem  has  been  published  complete  in  the  beautiful  Golden 
Floral  Series  by  Lee  & Shepherd. 

After  the  painting  was  completed  and  Mr.  Carpenter  was 
about  returning  home,  the  President  called  on  him  and 
said  : 

“ Well,  Carpenter,  I must  go  in  and  take  one  more  look 
at  the  picture  before  you  leave  us.”  So  saying,  he  accom- 
panied the  artist  to  the  East  Room,  and  sitting  down  in 
front  of  it  remained  for  some  time  in  silence. 


492 


FRANK  B.  CARPENTER. 


After  a while  he  said,  “ There  is  little  to  find  fault 
with,”  he  replied,  “the  portraiture  is  the  main  thing,  and 
that  seems  to  me  absolutely  perfect.” 

The  late  Henry  J.  Raymond  once  related  a curious 
anecdote  about  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation.  He 
said  that  Secretary  Chase  told  him  that  the  President  came 
into  the  meeting  of  the  Cabinet  after  the  battle  of  Antietam, 
and  said  he  had  come  across  something  very  amusing  in  one 
of  Artemus  Ward’s  letters,  and  he  read  it  through  for  the 
edification  of  the  Secretaries.  He  then  said  he  had  brought 
another  document  to  read  to  them — not  for  their  advice 
and  criticism,  for  his  mind  was  fully  made  up  on  the  sub- 
ject, but  for  their  information. 

It  was  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation.  He  said  he 
had  promised  himself  and  his  God  that  if  the  rebels  were 
driven  out  of  Maryland  he  would  issue  such  a proclamation, 
and  he  was  about  to  do  it.  Mr.  Chase  said  the  words  “and 
my  God  ” were  uttered  in  a low  tone,  and  he  thought  no 
one  but  himself  heard  them.  Some  days  after  he  recalled 
them  to  the  President’s  notice,  and  told  him  it  seemed  to 
him  to  indicate  that  he  had  issued  the  Proclamation  in 
fulfillment  of  a religious  vow.  The  President  half  assented 
to  the  inference  which  Mr.  Chase  had  drawn. 

In  a copy  of  Mr.  Carpenter’s  book,  “Six  Months  at  the 
White  House ; or.  Inner  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,”  which 
lies  before  me,  I find  the  following  inscription  : 


“To  my  friend,  Jas.  C.  Derby,  Esq., 

“ Who  suggested  the  title  of  this  book,  ‘ Six  Months  at  the 
White  House,1  and  whose  constant  friendly  interest  in  it  from  the 
beginning,  greatly  encouraged  and  helped  me  in  its  progress. 

‘ ‘ Frank  B.  Carpenter. 

“New  York,  1869.” 

The  volume  was  published  by  Hurd  & Houghton  in 
the  year  1867,  and  has  reached  a sale  of  nearly  thirty 
thousand  copies.  • 


XXX. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS-A.  H.  STEPHENS. 


“ Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederate  Government  " — A Visit 
to  Jefferson  Davis — Hospitable  Reception  at  Beauvoir 
— A Yet  Unfinished  Booh — Judge  Tenney  Comes  to 
the  Rescue — Sarah  A.  Dorsey's  Bequest — The  Ex- 
President's  Complimentary  Letter — Ravages  of  Yel- 
low Fever — Noble  Action  of  Northern  People — A new 
Version  of  the  Capture  of  Davis — Beautiful  Home  at 
Beauvoir. 

1 N the  year  1875,  the  house  of  D.  Appleton  & Co.,  with 
which  I tvas  then  connected,  entered  into  an  agree- 
ment with  an  authorized  agent  of  Jetferson  Davis,  to  pre- 
pare under  his  dictation  a book  on  the  late  war  between 
the  States,  the  title  of  which,  afterwards  agreed  upon, 
being  “The  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederate  Govern- 
ment.” The  book  was  to  have  been  completed  in  two 
years*  time,  the  publishers  agreeing  to  advance  on  account 
of  copyright  a specified  sum  for  the  services  of  the  agent 
referred  to,  and  to  defray  the  expenses  of  gathering- 
material  for  the  use  of  the  writer. 

The  time  having  expired  in  which  the  book  was  to  have 
been  finished,  with  but  little  progress  towards  its  comple- 
tion; and  the  sums  advanced,  as  agreed  upon,  having  con- 
siderably increased,  without  any  near  prospect  of  getting 
the  book,  the  publishers  became  concerned,  regarding  the 
non-fulfillment  of  the  contract.  In  consequence  of  this  I 
was  deputed  by  the  house  to  visit  Mr.  Davis,  at  his  home 
in  Mississippi,  according  to  the  following  instructions  : 

[493] 


494 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


“ New  York,  Jan.  28,  1880. 

“Dear  Mr.  Derby  : 

“With  respect  to  the  unfortunate  delay  in  completing  the 
work  on  the  Confederacy  by  Mr.  Davis,  and  the  very  considerable 
amount  we  have  advanced,  we  wish  to  say,  first;  we  have  extended 
the  first  agreement  to  suit  all  parties,  and  have  advanced  money 
until  the  sum  is  too  large  and  we  can  advance  no  more.  We  do 
not  desire  to  find  fault  with  any  one  ; we  simply  claim  that  we 
are  entitled  to  consideration  under  the  agreement.  We  do  not 
wish  to  push  unreasonably  our  claim.  We  anxiously  desire  the 
work,  but  will  forego  it  altogether,  if  the  money  we  have  ad- 
vanced is  returned  to  us.  You  must  judge  for  yourself,  but  we 
think  the  past  clearly  shows  wTe  can  place  no  confidence  in  any 
future  promises.  We  have  every  confidence  and  respect  for  Mr. 
Davis,  but  do  not  believe  he  can  ever  complete  the  work  on  his 
present  plan.  And  for  this  reason  we  are  anxious  it  should  pass 
into  other  hands.  It  is  now  two  years  since  Mr.  Tenney  was  with 
Mr.  Davis  and  saw  the  manuscript,  and  he  left  with  the  impres- 
sion it  would  be  all  completed  in  from  three  to  six  months.  We 
have  no  doubt  if  the  material  is  placed  in  his  hands  now,  he  could 
do  it  within  that  time.  Most  truly, 

D.  Appleton  & Co.” 

I started  immediately  for  Beauvoir,  the  residence  of 
the  ex-President  of  the  Confederate  States,  arriving  there 
in  February,  1880.  Mr.  Davis  had  been  prepared  by  corres- 
pondence to  expect  my  arrival,  and  I was  received  with 
great  cordiality  at  the  hospitable  mansion  of  Beauvoir,  and 
soon  after  my  arrival  we  commenced  to  talk  about  the  book. 

I found  Mr.  Davis  in  blissful  ignorance  of  the  progress 
of  his  work,  he  trusting  entirely  to  his  agent,  in  whose 
literary  attainments  he  placed  the  utmost  confidence,  and 
towards  whom  he  seemed  to  cherish  the  most  affectionate 
regard. 

Mr.  Davis  had  occasionally  seen  a few  pages  of  the 
manuscript,  and  he  said  he  wished  my  visit  had  been 
earlier,  as  the  gentleman  who  had  the  preparation  of  the 
manuscript  in  charge,  lived  at  some  distance,  and  he  him- 
self had  been  utterly  unable  to  visit  him  in  person. 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


495 


According  to  his  request,  I called  upon  this  party  and 
asked  to  see  the  manuscript  of  Mr.  Davis’  book,  which  was 
reluctantly  shown  me.  I soon  saw  that  there  was  not 
enough  copy  to  make  three  hundred  pages  of  one  volume, 
and  even  that  was  not  in  necessary  shape.  On  returning 
with  the  manuscript  to  Mr.  Davis,  he  seemed  greatly  sur- 
prised at  the  result  of  four  years’  literary  labor,  and  look- 
ing it  over  said  there  was  hardly  any  more  ready  than  when 
Judge  Tenney  examined  it  two  years  previously. 

Mr.  Davis  took  in  the  situation  at  once,  and  remarked 
that  the  publishers  under  the  contract  which  he  had 
guaranteed,  were  entitled  to  the  manuscript  complete,  or 
the  return  of  the  money  advanced  by  them.*  But  the 
former  not  being  ready,  and  his  large  cotton  crops  requir- 
ing all  his  available  means  just  at  that  time,  it  would  be 
inconvenient  to  return  the  latter.  He  said  also  he  had 
made  a binding  contract  with  the  house  which  was  satis- 
factory to  him,  and  he  was  willing  to  do  anything  reason- 
able to  expedite  matters. 

Calling  Mr.  Davis’  attention  to  the  suggestion  made 
in  my  letter  of  instructions  regarding  Judge  Tenney,  as  a 
competent  and  ready  writer  to  aid  him  in  completing  the 
long-delayed  work,  he  said  that  nothing  would  please  him 
better,  as  he  entertained  a high  regard  for  the  latter’s  fair- 
ness and  literary  capacity,  and  he  would  be  glad  of  his 
speedy  assistance. 

Soon  after  my  return  to  New  York,  the  publishers 
despatched  Judge  Tenney  without  further  delay  to  assist 
Mr.  Davis  in  the  preparation  of  the  manuscript  for  the 
press.  It  was  soon  completed,  and  thus,  after  the  pro- 
tracted delay,  the  book  made  its  appearance.  Mr.  Davis 
introduces  his  “ Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederacy  ” as 
follows  : 

* Over  eight  thousand  dollars  had  been  advanced  towards  the 
preparation  of  the  work,  not  a dollar  of  which  had  Mr.  Davis  re- 
ceived. It  was  paid  out,  however,  on  his  order,  to  the  agent 
referred  to,  and  was  ultimately  deducted  from  the  copyright. 


496 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


“The  object  of  this  work  has  been  to  show,  from  historical 
data,  that  the  Southern  States  had  rightfully  the  power  to  with- 
draw from  a union  into  which  they  had,  as  sovereign  communities, 
voluntarily  entered  ; that  the  denial  of  that  right  was  a violation 
of  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  compact  between  the  States,  and  that 
the  war  waged  by  the  Federal  Government  against  the  seceding 
States,  was  in  disregard  of  the  limitations  of  the  Constitution,  and 
destructive  of  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
The  author  from  his  official  position  may  claim  to  have  known 
much  of  the  motives  and  acts  of  his  countrymen,  immediately 
before  and  during  the  war  of  1861-65,  and  he  has  sought  to  furnish 
material  for  the  future  historian,  who,  when  the  passions  and 
prejudices  of  the  day  shall  have  given  place  to  reason  and  sober 
thought,  may  better  than  a contemporary  investigate  the  causes, 
conduct  and  results  of  the  war.” 

Soon  after  my  return  home  from  my  business  trip  to 
Beauvoir  I received  the  following  letter  : 

“Beauvoir,  Feb.  14th,  1880. 

“ J.  C.  Derby,  Esq. : 

“ My  Dear  Sir  : I hope  your  remembrance  of  your  visit  to  us 
may  not  be  exclusively  of  your  business  troubles.  In  that  connec- 
tion, however,  you  must  have  the  consolation  of  having  achieved 
as  much  as  was  practicable  to  expedite  the  completion  of  the  prep- 
aration of  my  manuscript  for  the  press.  The  disappointment  felt 
by  your  house  at  the  slow  progress  of  the  work  was  certainly  not 
greater  than  my  own,  and  strange  as  it  may  appear,  I was  but  lit- 
tle better  prepared  than  yourself  to  find  how  little  had  been  done 
in  a form  to  be  sent  to  the  press.  It  is  proper  that  you  should 
know  that  much  correspondence  to  obtain  material  for  the  second 
volume  which  is  ou  hand,  did  not  appear  in  what  was  submitted 
to  you,  but  is  valuable  and  did  consume  much  time.  If  your 
associates  can  be  made  fully  to  appreciate  the  difficulties  you  en- 
countered and  the  obstacles  you  overcame,  they  will  accord  to  you 
the  credit  of  having  achieved  as  much  as  was  practicable. 
Hoping  that  in  the  future  more  efficient  conduct  of  the  work  may 
repay  your  past  disappointments,  as  far  as  what  is  lost  may  be 
compensated  for,  and  that  you  suffer  no  further  inconvenience 
from  your  recent  illness,  I am  respectfully  and  cordially, 

“ Yours, 

“Jefferson  Davis.” 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


497 


The  book,  although  published  at  a high  price  in  two 
large  volumes,  met  with  a large  sale,  reaching  many  thou- 
sands of  copies. 

Judge  Tenney,  to  whose  untiring  industry  was  mainly 
due  the  speedy  appearance  of  the  book,  had  been  with  D. 
Appleton  & Co.  for  nearly  thirty  years,  previous  to  which  he 
was  one  of  the  editors  of  the  New  York  Evening  Post , and 
well  known  in  literary  circles.  In  the  summer  of  1883, 
while  visiting  Mr.  Davis,  Judge  Tenney  was  taken  sick, 
and,  returning  to  his  home,  died  most  unexpectedly,  much 
to  the  regret  of  all  who  knew  him. 

Beauvoir,  the  home  of  Jefferson  Davis,  is  situated  on 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  midway  between  Mobile  and  New  Or- 
leans. The  property  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Davis  from 
Mrs.  Sarah  A.  Dorsey  soon  after  her  husband’s  death,  for  a 
pleasant  residence  for  the  summer  months  ; it  was  not 
willed  to  him  by  Mrs.  Dorsey,  as  the  public  generally  be- 
lieve ; at  her  death,  however,  she  did  will  some  plantation 
property  in  Mississippi  and  Louisiana  to  Mr.  Davis,  which 
will  has  been  contested  and  is  still  in  the  courts.  Mrs.  Dorsey 
was  a great  admirer  of  Mr.  Davis  and  sustained  with  great 
ardor  the  cause  of  which  he  was  the  acknowledged  head  ; 
they  were  born  and  lived  on  neighboring  plantations,  and 
her  affection  for  him  was  that  of  a devoted  sister.  Mrs. 
Dorsey  was  an  authoress  of  some  repute ; she  was  known 
in  literary  circles  in  New  York  and  elsewhere.  She  was  a 
niece  of  that  brilliant  writer,  Mrs.  Catherine  A.  Warfield, 
author  of  the  Household  of  Bouverie. 

The  following  letters  received  by  me  from  Mr.  Davis 
will  doubtlessly  interest  my  readers  : 

“ Beauvoir,  Feb.  6th,  1874. 

“The  time  is  near  at  hand  when  frost  maybe  expected  at 
Memphis,  and  the  effect  it  produces  has  usually  been  felt  for 
several  degrees  of  latitude  south  of  the  place  it  occurred  ; we  are 
here  surrounded  by  yellow  fever,  and  the  circle  steadily  narrows, 
but  my  residence  is  so  isolated,  that  we  may  fairly  hope  not  to  be 
invaded  by  the  infection.  The  disease  this  year,  however,  has 


498 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


some  characteristics  hitherto  unknown,  and  the  suffering  lias  been 
and  is  more  severe  than  any  previous  epidemic.  The  noble  gener- 
osity of  the  northern  people  in  this  day  of  our  extreme  affliction, 
has  been  felt  with  deep  gratitude,  and  has  done  more  for  the  fra- 
ternization of  which  many  idly  prate,  than  would  many  volumes  of 
rhetorical  assurance.” 

u Beauvoir,  Sept.  4th,  1878. 

“ Herewith  is  enclosed  the  marked  article  in  reference  to  im- 
portant documents  on  Exhibition  in  Toledo.  Statements  in  regard 
to  such  matters  are  generally  so  unreliable,  that  one  cannot  forma 
conclusion  from  them;  for  example,  in  this  recital  articles  are 
mentioned  as  taken  by  Michigan  soldiers  at  the  time  of  my  cap- 
ture. It  may  be  true  that  they  were  taken  by  Colonel  Pritchard, 
of  Michigan,  or  his  staff-officers,  when  they  pillaged  my  wife’s 
trunks  after  I was  imprisoned  in  Fortress  Monroe,  or,  they  may 
have  been  found  in  a trunk  belonging  to  me,  which  a party  going 
from  Virginia  to  Florida  had  carried  to  Florida,  and  left  there, 
but  they  were  not  taken  as  reported.  Again,  the  government  of 
the  C.  S.  A.  was  never  transferred  to  Greensboro,  N.  C.  I stopped 
there,  after  the  surrender  of  Lee,  for  a conference  with  J.  E. 
Johnston  and  Beauregard,  but  never  designed  to  establish  the 
government  there,  yet,  there  may  be  important  documents  obtained 
by  means  which  it  is  sought  to  conceal  by  a misstatement;  but  of 
that  I have  no  power  to  judge.” 

“ Beauvoir,  Oct.  29th,  1878. 

4‘  Dear  Sir: 

“ When  your  kind  letter  of  the  15th  inst.  was  received,  domes- 
tic affliction,  in  the  loss  of  my  last  surviving  son,  who  died  far 
from  me,  and  the  serious  illness  of  my  wife,  who  alone  of  my 
family  is  with  me,  prevented  me  from  making  an  early  acknowl- 
edgment. ..... 

Isolation,  which  has  heretofore  given  security,  no  longer  affords 
safety  from  infection.  Creole  children  and  full-blooded  negroes, 
who  were  generally  exempt  from  yellow  fever,  have  been  in  no- 
wise spared  by  this  pestilence.  These  and  other  characteristics 
of  this  year’s  disease  have  caused  such  discussion  without  satis- 
factory conclusion,  as  to  whether  it  is  pure  yellow  fever  or  a com- 
bination of  that  disease  with  other  fevers.  The  benevolence  of  your 
city  and  other  places  can  never  be  forgotten  by  our  people,  and  will 
remain  a lasting  memorial  of  the  civilization  of  our  day  and  coun- 
try.” 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


499 


The  following  picturesque  description  of  Beauvoir,  and 
its  surroundings,  written  by  Mrs.  Frank  Leslie,  and  pub- 
lished in  her  Illustrated  Newspaper  of  March  24th,  1883, 
will  no  doubt  be  interesting  to  many. 

“Among  my  most  pleasurable  reminiscences,  a visit  to  Beau- 
voir, the  stately  home  of  Jefferson  Davis,  is  cut  in  boldest  relief. 

“It  was  a balmy  March  morning — the  idea  of  a balmy  morn- 
ing in  this  monster  month  ! — that  we  left  the  Crescent  City — a 
party  of  a dozen  or  more  en  route  to  Mississippi  City,  close  to 
which  lies  the  Davis  domain  and  mansion.  The  train  ran  into  the 
station  at  Mississippi  City,  where  we  found  carriages,  sent  from 
Beauvoir,  awaiting  us. 

“ Beauvoir  is  a stately  mansion,  reminding  one  of  an  old  Eng- 
lish home.  It  is  approached  by  an  avenue  of  superb  and  venerable 
trees.  At  the  gate,  in  a spirit  of  true  Southern  courtesy,  Mrs. 
Jefferson  Davis  awaited  us.  As  we  walked  up  to  the  old  manor- 
house,  beneath  the  arching  boughs  of  lordly  trees  that  stood  like 
sentinels  presenting  arms  as  we  passed,  I felt  its  fascination  to 
the  full.  Ascending  a steep  flight  of  steps,  we  were  ushered  into 
the  reception  room,  an  apartment  at  once  as  elegant  as  it  is  cozy. 
A bright  log  fire  smiled  on  us,  and  great  easy  chairs  received  us 
with  open  arms.  Miniatures  of  many  generations  gazed  at  us 
from  the  walls,  and  books,  old  and  new,  were  at  our  beck.  Pic- 
tures and  portfolios,  dainty  bits  of  work  and  all  the  costly  knick- 
knackeries  that  bespeak  refinement  and  culture  blossomed  in  this 
charming  old  room,  and  as  if  to  complete  the  picture,  a huge 
shaggy  Newfoundland  dog  sprawled  before  the  fire,  even  in  his 
sleep  ever  and  anon  wagging  his  bushy  tail  for  very  hospitality. 

“ After  a delightful  chat,  Mrs.  Davis  volunteered  to  show  us  her 
husband’s  study — the  workshop  in  which  he  turned  out  the  ‘ His- 
tory of  the  War  ’ — and  in  which  he  passes  so  much  of  his  waking 
hours.  This  sanctum  is  a verandaed  building  with  a conical  roof, 
standing  apart  from  the  manor-house  and  in  the  midst  of  the  most 
magnificent  trees.  The  interior  presents  all  the  rude  reality  that 
actual  work  ever  imparts,  and  is  lined  with  two  tiers  of  books. 
Everywhere  are  evidences  of  Jeff.  Davis’  individuality  in  the  form 
of  pictures  and  statuettes.  Mr.  Davis  will  not  permit  any  profane 
hands  here,  and  everything  must  remain  as  he  leaves  it.  While 
he  is  closeted  in  his  sanctum  no  one  may  disturb  him.  This  law 
is  Draconian.” 


500 


ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS. 


ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS. 

Stephens  Hears  Seward  Speak  in  1854 — A 'Visit  to  Liberty 
Hall — It  does  not  Belie  its  Name — “ Retract , or  I'll 
Cut ” — (i Never!  Cut ” — Devotion  of  Former  Slaves 
to  “ Mars  Aleck  ” — John  Quincy  Adams  writes 
Verses  to  Stephens — The  latter  Opposes  the  War , then 
follows  his  State — Becomes  Vice-President  of  Confed- 
eracy— Negro  not  equal  to  White  Man — Illinois  “ All 
Noise ” — Speech  on  Carpenter's  Picture — His  Death 
while  Governor  of  Georgia — Eloquent  Tribute  to  His 
Memory . 

TN  the  year  1854  during  a visit  to  Washington,  I first  saw 
Alexander  II.  Stephens,  then  a Member  of  Congress 
from  Georgia.  He  was  listening  to  a speech  of  William  H. 
Seward,  then  IJ.  S.  Senator,  on  what  was  called  the  Missouri 
Compromise  Bill.  He  at  that  time,  like  Mr.  Seward,  be- 
longed with  Clay  and  Webster  to  the  Whig  party,  which 
was  destroyed  by  the  repeal  of  the  Compromise  bill,  and  on 
the  ruins  of  which  party  the  Republican  party  was  built. 
I remember  hearing  Mr.  Stephens  while  he  was  conversing 
with  a fellow-member,  a Northern  Whig,  belonging  to  what 
was  then  known  as  the  Silver  Gray  faction  of  that  party. 
The  conversation  of  these  Congressmen  was  very  bitter  to- 
wards Mr.  Seward,  who  was  at  that  time  very  obnoxious  to 
the  Southern  Members  of  Congress. 

The  next  time  I met  Mr.  Stephens  was  in  1870,  at  Liberty 
Hall,  his  well-known  home  at  Crawford sville,  Georgia.  I 
was  accompanied  in  my  visit  by  James  R.  Randall,  then 
editor  of  the  Augusta,  Ga.,  Constitutionalist,  and  an  inti- 
mate personal  and  political  friend  of  the  Georgia  states- 
man. Mr.  Stephens  gave  us  a cordial  greeting,  and  I was 


ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS. 


501 


soon  made  to  realize  that  his  hospitable  mansion  did  not 
belie  its  name.  I was  struck  with  the  personal  appearance 
of  our  host,  with  his  boyish  stature  and  delicate  frame. 

Not  long  since  I met  Mr.  W.  F.  Herring,  a well-known 
Georgian,  now  living  in  New  York.  He  said  to  me  that 
when  a boy  in  Atlanta  he  witnessed  the  attack  made  on 
Mr.  Stephens  by  a desperate  man  of  giant  frame.  He  saw 
the  strong  man’s  knife  raised  above  the  throat  of  his  weak 
and  prostrate  victim,  and  heard  the  hoarse  imprecation 
with  which  he  said,  “Retract,  or  I’ll  cut!”  Looking 
bis  foe  in  the  face,  the  blood  streaming  from  the  wounds 
he  had  already  received,  and  the  blade  about  to  descend  in 
a last  fatal  blow,  the  almost  dying  but  dauntless  man  an- 
swered, “ Never  ! Cut  !”  Mr.  Herring  says  he  can  never 
forget  that  exhibition  of  the  most  utter  fearlessness  which 
human  nature  can  possibly  exhibit. 

His  conversation,  like  his  appearance,  was  very  remark- 
able. At  that  time  he  could  neither  stand  or  walk,  being 
wheeled  about  in  a chair,  or  carried  by  his  body  servant. 
His  most  remarkable  feature  was  his  bright  and  piercing 
eye.  His  voice  was  as  effeminate  as  a woman’s,  except 
when  aroused  in  conversation,  or  in  making  one  of  his 
brilliant  speeches.  His  former  slaves  remained  with  him 
as  freedmen,  and  were  devoted  to  the  interests  of  “ Mars 
Aleck,”  as  they  called  him. 

1 was  greatly  interested  in  his  anecdotes  of  public  men 
whom  he  had  met  in  Congress,  among  others,  those  about 
John  Quincy  Adams,  with  whom  he  was  on  the  most 
friendly  terms.  He  showed  among  other  mementoes  the 
following  stanzas  from  Ex-President  Adams,  who  was  his 
intimate  friend: — 

“TO  ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS,  ESQ.,  OF  GA. 

“ Say,  by  what  sympathetic  charm, 

What  mystic  magnet’s  secret  sway, 

Drawn  by  some  unresisted  arm 
We  come  from  regions  far  away  ? 


1 


502 


ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS. 


“ From  North  apd  South  from  East  and  West 
Here  in  the  people’s  hall  we  meet, 

To  execute  their  high  behest 

In  council  and  communion  sweet. 

“We  meet  as  strangers  in  this  hall, 

But  when  our  task  of  duty’s  done, 

We  blend  the  common  good  of  all, 

And  melt  the  multitude  in  one. 

“ As  strangers  in  this  hall  we  meet; 

But  now  with  one  united  heart 
Whate’er  of  life  awaits  us  yet, 

In  cordial  friendship  let  us  part. 

“ John  Quincy  Adams.” 

The  following  amusing  anecdote  was  related  by  Mr. 
Stephens:  “ On  a certain  occasion  when  the  House  was 
in  session,  a dispute  arose  between  Hardin  and  others  of 
the  Illinois  delegation  as  to  the  proper  pronunciation  of 
the  name  of  their  State.  Some  insisted  it  was  4 Illinoy/ 
others  as  stoutly  that  it  was  ‘ Illinois.’  Hardin  at  length 
appealed  to  the  venerable  John  Quincy  Adams.  ‘If  one 
were  to  judge  from  the  character  of  the  representatives  in 
this  Congress  from  that  state/  said  the  old  man,  with  a 
malicious  smile,  ‘ I should  decide  unhesitatingly  that  the 
proper  pronunciation  was  ‘All  noise  V" 

During  my  visit  Mr.  Stephens  presented  me  with  a copy 
of  his  History  of  the  Late  War  between  the  States,  with 
this  inscription. 

“ This  work  is  commended  to  the  careful  perusal  and  study  of 
his  friend  J.  C.  Derby;  upon  the  principles  herein  presented 
depend  the  future  welfare  of  our  country,  as  well  as  the  hope  of 
mankind — this  at  least  is  the  opinion  of 

Alexander  H.  Stephens.” 

This  work  referred  to  was  published  in  two  large  vol- 
umes and  over  100,000  copies  were  sold. 


ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS. 


503 


I next  met  Mr.  Stephens  in  Washington,  where  he  had 
again  taken  his  seat  as  representative  in  Congress  as  a pro- 
nounced Unionist. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Stephens  was  decidedly 
opposed  to  the  secession  of  his  State  from  the  Union,  and 
threw  all  his  influence  against  the  course  adopted,  believing 
it  would  be  better  for  the  State  to  remain  in  the  Union 
than  to  follow  the  action  of  South  Carolina.  When,  how- 
ever, Georgia  did  secede,  Mr.  Stephens,  like  most  of  the 
people  believing  in  the  doctrine  of  States  Eights  (owing 
first  allegiance  to  the  State),  went  with  his  State  out  of  the 
Union. 

In  his  famous  speech  delivered  on  the  21st  of  March, 
1861,  in  Savannah,  he  said,  “ Our  new  government  is 
founded  upon  exactly  the  opposite  idea  ; its  foundations 
are  laid,  its  corner-stone  rests  upon  the  great  truth,  that 
the  negro  is  not  equal  to  the  white  man ; that  slavery — 
subordination  to  the  superior  race — is  his  natural  and  nor- 
mal condition.” 


It  seems  strange  that  in  the  logic  of  events  Mr.  Stephens 
should  have  been  selected,  when  a member  of  Congress,  to 
receive  from  the  hands  of  the  donor,  F.  B.  Carpenters 
picture  of  the  “Emancipation  Proclamation,”  which  duty 
he  performed  in  an  eloquent  speech  on  the  12th  of  Febru- 
ary, 1878,  which  opens  as  follows  : 

“Mr.  President  and  Mr.  Speaker  : 

“There  is  but  little  left  to  say  in  the  performance  of  the  part 
assigned  me  in  the  programme  arranged  for  this  august  occasion. 
Upon  the  merits  of  the  picture  and  the  skill  of  the  artist,  my  friend 
from  Ohio  (Mr.  Garfield)  has  dwelt  at  large.  I can  but  indorse 
all  he  has  so  well  said  on  that  subject.  As  to  the  munificent  gift 
of  the  donor,  he  has  also  left  me  nothing  to  add.  The  present  of 
a twenty-five-thousand-dollar  painting  to  the  government  well  de- 
serves commendation.  Few  instances  of  this  sort  have  occurred 
in  the  history  of  our  country.  I know  of  none.  The  example  of 


504 


ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS. 


this  generous  lady  in  the  encouragement  of  art  may  well  be  fol- 
lowed by  others. 

“Mr.  President,  with  regard  to  the  subject  of  the  painting,  I 
propose,  if  strength  permits,  to  submit  a few  remarks;  first,  as  to 
the  central  figure  the  man,  after  that,  as  to  the  event  commemor- 
ated. I knew  Mr.  Lincoln  well.  We  met  in  the  House  in  Decem- 
ber, 1847.  We  were  together  during  the  Thirtieth  Congress.  I 
was  as  intimate  with  him  as  with  any  other  man  of  that  Congress 
except  one.  That  exception  was  my  colleague,  Mr.  Toombs.  Of 
Mr.  Lincoln’s  general  character  I need  not  speak.  He  was  warm- 
hearted ; he  was  generous;  he  was  magnanimous,  he  was  most 
truly,  as  he  afterwards  said  on  a memorable  occasion  ‘ With  malice 
towards  none,  with  charity  for  all.’  ” 

* * * * *•  * * 

Although  Mr.  Stephens  had  been  a great  sufferer  for 
half  a century,  and  had  reached  the  age  of  threescore  and 
ten,  he  was  elected  Governor  of  Georgia,  over  all  opposition, 
by  a majority  of  sixty  thousand  votes,  living  but  a short 
time,  however,  after  his  inauguration.  His  death  was  a 
national  loss,  more  especially  to  his  State,  whom  he  had 
served  so  long  and  well.  A most  interesting  life  of  Mr. 
Stephens  has  recently  been  published  by  J.  B.  Lippincott 
& Co.,  written  by  Kichard  Malcolm  Johnston,  a gentle- 
man of  fine  literary  attainments  and  a life-long  friend  of 
the  subject  of  his  memoir. 

Mrs.  Mary  E.  Bryan,  editor  of  the  Sunny  South,  pub- 
lished at  Atlanta,  Georgia,  an  authoress  of  considerable 
merit,  known  to  me,  as  a special  protege  of  Mr.  Stephens, 
writes  of  his  death  as  follows,  “ He  died  just  as  the  day  was 
breaking.  It  was  the  hour  he  had  lately  said  he  looked  for 
death  to  come.  Once,  this  winter,  a friend  took  him  some 
flowers.  In  the  conversation  that  ensued  he  spoke  of 
Henry  Timrod’s  poems — of  that  saddest,  sweetest  one,  his 
favorite,  called  6 A Common  Thought  * — the  poem  Tim- 
rod  had  whispered  with  husky  lips  just  before  he  died. 
Mr.  Stephens  repeated  it  almost  in  full. 


ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS. 


505 


“Somewhere  on  this  earthly  planet, 

In  the  dust  of  flowers  to  be — 

In  the  dewdrop  and  the  sunshine 
Waits  a solemn  hour  for  me. 

“ At  the  wakeful  hour  of  midnight 
I behold  it  dawn  in  mist; 

And  I hear  a sound  of  sobbing 

Through  the  darkness, — hist!  oh,  hist! 

“ In  a dim  and  murky  chamber 
I am  breathing  life  away; 

Some  one  draws  a curtain  softly, 

And  I watch  the  broad'ning  day. 

“ As  it  purples  in  the  zenith, 

As  it  brightens  on  the  lawn, 

There’s  a hush  of  death  about  me, 

And  a whisper,  ‘ He  is  gone.’” 


XXXI. 

THURLOW  WEED. 


Albany  Evening  Journal  Fifty  Years  ago — A Modern 
Warwick — Wiley  & Putnam’s  London  House — 
Tkurlow  Weed’s  Autobiography — Walking  barefoot 
through  the  Snow — Advocates  School  Libraries — 
Paulding  arid  the  Dutchman’s  Fireside — Thurlow 
Weed  writes  a Novel — Fennimore  Cooper  gets  a Ver- 
dict— Noble  Charity  to  Edwin  Croswall — Thurlow 
Weed  Barnes'  Final  Memoir — Thurlow  Weed  and 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

l^EAKLY  fifty  years  ago,  while  residing  in  Auburn,  I 
' became  familiar  with  the  Albany  Evening  Journal , 
the  leading  Whig  paper  in  the  State  and  a powerful  factor 
in  the  politics  of  the  times.  It  was  usually  called  Thurlow 
Weed's  paper,  and  the  question  was  often  asked  by  poli- 
ticians on  arrival  of  the  Albany  paper,  “ What  does  Thur- 
low say  to-day  ?”  My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Weed  dates 
back  to  the  fall  of  1838,  soon  after  the  election  of  his 
friend  and  protege  William  H.  Seward  as  Governor  of  the 
State  of  New  York. 

Mr.  Weed  has  been  called  a modern  Warwick,  which, 
term  is  not  inaptly  applied  to  one  who  has  been  the  maker 
as  well  as  unmaker  of  Presidents,  Governors  and  Senators 
during  more  than  half  a century  of  an  eventful  political 
life.  But  Mr.  Weed  was  not  always  the  politician  ; he 
was  a good  friend  of  booksellers  and  authors,  besides  being 
a great  reader  of  books  himself.  Thurlow  Weed  first  be- 
came an  author  in  1866  ; an  involuntary  one,  I might  say, 
[506] 


THURLOW  WEED. 


507 


as  “ Letters  from  Europe  and  the  West  Indies,"  written  to 
the  Albany  Evening  Journal  from  1843  to  1852,  were 
printed  and  published  in  an  octavo  volume  at  Albany,  for 
private  circulation  only,  by  a few  personal  friends  unbe- 
known to  the  author. 

In  one  of  these  letters,  dated  London,  July  12th,  1843, 
he  says  of  the  London  house  of  Wiley  & Putnam,  just 
established  by  the  junior  member  of  that  firm  : 

“ I walked  through  Paternoster  Row,  among  the  booksellers, 
to-day,  and  into  the  London  house  of  Wiley  & Putnam,  who 
you  know  are  leading  booksellers  and  publishers  in  New  York, 
and  to  whom  I had  a letter  from  my  friends  the  Harpers.  These 
gentlemen  are  doing  much  to  enforce  a knowledge  of  American 
books  upon  the  British  public.  But  they  find  many  discourage- 
ments. With  the  exceptions  that  exist  among  enlightened  men 
of  liberal  minds,  the  great  mass  of  Englishmen  look  upon  us  as  a 
people  scarcely  able  to  read  aud  comprehend,  and  much  less  quali- 
fied to  write  and  think,  and  yet,  in  looking  upon  themselves  and 
running  over  the  ‘American  Bookseller’s  Circular,’  which  these 
gentlemen  have  pushed  all  over  Europe,  I was  proud  of  the  literary 
wealth  of  my  country,  and  of  the  array  of  names  we  present,  that 
even  British  supremacy  in  letters  and  science  does  not  cast  in  the 
shade.” 

Mr.  Weed's  next  volume  was  posthumous  ; his  interest- 
ing autobiography  was  not  published  until  a year  after  his 
death. 

I had,  on  several  occasions,  conversed  with  Mr.  Weed 
in  reference  to  his  writing  his  memoirs.  He  consented  to 
do  so,  and  I made,  at  his  request,  at  least  two  appoint- 
ments for  him  to  receive  the  stenographer  and  dictate  his 
reminiscences  ; but  on  each  occasion  he  was  unable  to  give 
the  necessary  attention,  owing  to  some  indisposition. 

Thus  has  posterity  been  deprived  of  much  interesting 
political  history  which  was  lost  to  the  world  when  Thurlow 
Weed  died. 

The  autobiography  referred  to  was  written  as  dictated  by 
him, to  his  daughter  Harriet,  who  was  her  father's  second  self 


508 


THURLOW  WEED. 


in  all  his  wishes,  aims,  and  desires,  while  he  lived.  This 
part  of  the  story  of  Mr.  Weed's  life  is  touchingly  referred 
to  in  the  preface  to  the  Autobiography  : 

“My  father’s  own  story  of  his  life,  so  far  as  he  committed  it  to 
paper,  will  be  found  in  this  volume.  Written  at  various  periods, 
and  frequently  in  detached  fragments,  these  reminiscences  are 
sufficiently  full  to  make,  when  arranged  in  due  order  of  time,  a 
connected  narrative  of  the  events  and  experiences  of  the  years  he 
deemed  of  chief  interest  or  importance.  Failing  health  prevented 
the  accomplishment  of  his  purpose  to  describe,  much  more  fully, 
two  periods — 1842  to  1848  and  1852  to  1860 — which  are  but  briefly 
alluded  to. 

“ My  duties  have  been  confined  to  the  verification  of  the  dates, 
and  in  placing,  as  far  as  was  practicable,  the  several  sections  of 
the  manuscript  in  chronological  order.  I am  under  great  obliga- 
tions to  my  own  and  my  father’s  friend,  Mr.  Frederick  W.  Seward, 
for  the  assistance  he  has  afforded  me  in  preparing  the  volume  for 
publication.  “ Harriet  A.  Weed.’’ 

“New  York,  April,  1883. 

Even  as  a youngster  Mr.  Weed  was  very  fond  of  books. 
In  his  Autobiography,  he  says  : 

“I  borrowed  books  wherever  I could.  I remember  to  have 
heard  that  a neighbor,  some  three  miles  off,  had  borrowed  from  a 
still  more  distant  neighbor,  a book  of  great  interest,  and  after  this 
book  had  been  read  by  those  better  entitled  to  the  privilege,  I 
started  off,  barefooted,  in  the  snow  to  obtain  the  treasure.  There 
were  spots  of  bare  ground  upon  which  I would  stop  to  warm  my 
feet,  and  there  were  also  along  the  road  occasional  lengths  of  log 
fence  from  which  the  snow  had  melted  and  upon  which  it  was  a 
luxury  to  walk.  The  book  was  at  home,  and  the  good  people  con- 
sented, upon  my  promise  that  it  should  be  neither  torn  nor  soiled, 
to  lend  it  to  me.  In  returning  with  the  prize  I was  too  happy  to 
think  of  the  snow  or  my  naked  feet.  Candles  were  then  among 
the  luxuries,  not  necessaries,  of  life.  If  boys,  instead  of  going  to 
bed  after  dark,  wanted  to  read,  they  supplied  themselves  with  pine 
knots,  by  the  light  of  which  (in  a horizontal  position)  they  pur- 


THURLOW  WEED. 


509 


sued  their  studies.  In  this  manner,  with  my  body  in  the  sugar 
house  and  my  head  out  of  doors  where  the  fat  pine  was  blazing,  I 
read  with  intense  interest  a ‘ History  of  the  French  Revolution.’  ” 

When  the  project  for  District  School  Libraries  through- 
out the  State,  which  Mr.  Weed  had  advocated  with  so  much 
earnestness,  had  become  a law  by.  legislative  action,  Har- 
pers’ School  District  Library  received  the  warm  commenda- 
tion of  Mr.  Weed,  in  an  article  in  the  Evening  Journal , 
which  brought  forth  the  following  letter  : 

“New  York,  Jan.  2nd,  1841. 

“Thurlow  Weed,  Esq., 

“ Dear  Friend: 

“Your  gratifying  letter  of  the  31st  ult.  came  to  hand  this  mo- 
ment. You  have  indeed  made  us  very  happy.  This  is  a glorious 
beginning  for  us,  for  which  we  beg  you  to  accept  our  unbounded 
and  inexpressible  thanks.  We  feel  better  and  more  thankful  than 
though  we  had  been  presented  with  the  sum  of  five  thousand  dol- 
lars. The  ‘ Brothers  Cheeryble  ’ (if  we  may  be  allowed  for  once 
to  apply  your  beautiful  compliment  to  ourselves),  will  ever  remem- 
ber your  kindness.  Individually  and  collectively  wishing  a Happy 
New  Year  to  the  dictator,  we  remain  your  obliged  friends. 

“Harper  & Brothers.” 

Those  of  my  old  bookselling  friends  who  remember  the 
popular  demand  for  Captain  Riley’s  Narrative  will  be  in- 
terested to  know  what  Wr.  Weed  says  of  the  way  it  came 
to  be  published  : 

“ When  James  and  John  Harper  established  a small  office  of 
their  own,  I reluctantly  left  Mr.  Seymour’s  office  to  take  a situa- 
tion in  that  of  William  A.  Mercien  in  Gold  Street,  that  I might 
have  Thomas  Kennedy,  who  was  considered  the  best  pressman  in 
New  York,  as  a partner.  Here  too  I found  much  enjoyment.  I 
soon  became  a favorite  with  Mr.  Mercien  and  always  had  the  best 
work  in  the  office.  Here  Captain  Riley’s  narrative  of  a remark- 
able shipwreck  on  the  Coast  of  Africa,  was  first  printed.  Making 
his  acquaintance  the  day  he  brought  the  manuscript  of  his  book 
to  the  office,  and  reading  the  first  chapter,  1 ventured  to  suggest 


510 


THURLOW  WEED. 


that  it  was  carelessly  written  and  needed  revising,  and  although 
at  first  annoyed,  he  finally  took  it  away  and  availed  himself  of  the 
services  of  a school  teacher,  who  improved  the  whole  narrative  in 
its  style  and  grammar.  The  work  was  a great  success,  keeping  its 
author  before  the  people  for  fifteen  or  twenty  years.” 

Again  an  amusing  account  is  given  in  which  a famous 
author  and  famous  publisher  were  interested  parties. 

“After  reviewing  the  ‘Dutchman’s  Fireside,’  a novel  by  Mr. 
Paulding,  I was  subjected  to  a ludicrous  and  embarrassing  inter- 
view with  the  author.  Calling  at  the  Harper’s  a few  days  after 
my  notice  appeared,  my  old  friend  James,  the  senior  of  that  house 
in  taking  me  by  the  hand,  abruptly  said:  ‘ You  are  just  in  time 
to  give  au  account  of  yourself.  Here  is  Mr.  Paulding  agai,nst 
whom  you  have  brought  the  charge  of  plagiarism.  We  generally 
swear  by  the  ‘ Evening  Journal ,’  but  of  course  you  are  mistaken 
in  this  case,  and  I have  assured  Mr.  Paulding  that  you  will  cheer- 
fully make  an  apology.’  Mr.  Paulding  very  courteously  remarked 
that  he  was  not  conscious  of  being  obnoxious  to  the  grave  charge, 
but  that  authors  not  unfrequenily  fell  into  a train  of  thought 
which  might  subject  them  to  criticism.  ‘That  won’t  do,’  said 
Harper,  ‘ our  friend  Weed  has  either  made  a great  blunder,  or  he 
has  found  something  to  justify  his  accusation;  he  must,  therefore, 
either  back  out,  or  prove  his  assertion.’  Mr.  Paulding  politely 
expressed  a desire  to  know  upon  what  part  of  his  book  the  charge 
of  plagiarism  wTas  founded.  Harper  then  produced  a copy  of  the 
‘ Dutchman’s  Fireside  ’ and  I turned  to  the  following: 

“ ‘ A bashful  man  is  like  a tiger;  he  makes  but  one  effort  and 
if  that  fails  slinks  away  to  his  jungle  and  essays  not  another.  I, 
myself,  have  my  own  experience  to  vouch  for  this.’ 

“ I then  asked  for  a copy  of  Moore’s  ‘ Life  of  Byron  ’ and  I 
turned  to  a letter  of  the  latter  written  to  Murray  in  which  Byron 
said:  “ With  regard  to  what  you  say  about  retouching  the  Juan 
and  the  hints,  it  is  all  very  well;  but  I can’t  furbish.  I am  like 
the  tiger  (in  poesy),  if  I miss  the  first  spring,  I go  growling  back 
to  my  jungle.  There  is  no  second.’ 

After  an  embarrassing  pause,  Mr.  Paulding  frankly  admitted 
that  the  criticism  was  just,  but  said  that  while  it  was  quite  evi- 
dent that  he  had  used  both  the  figure  of  speech  and  the  language, 
he  was  oblivious  while  writing  of  the  fact  that  he  was  indebted  to 


THURLOW  WEED. 


511 


Lord  Byron  for  both.  When  Mr.  Paulding  retired  I expostulated 
with  Mr.  Harper  for  placing  strangers  in  a position  of  such  pecu- 
liar embarrassment.  He  replied  laughingly,  that  he  supposed  he 
was  putting  me  in  a tight  place,  but  knew  that  I would  work  out 
of  it  in  some  way,  but  that  he  regretted  having  touched  Mr. 
Paulding  on  the  raw.” 

It  will  be  news  to  most  of  my  readers  to  learn  that  Mr. 
Weed  had  composed  a novel  in  his  own  mind  but  had  never 
written  it  out.  His  daughter  Harriet  used  to  beg  of  him 
to  dictate  to  her  so  that  it  might  sometime  be  published. 
He  had  planned  the  entire  plot  of  the  novel  and  intended 
to  put  it  in  shape,  but  never  did. 

Mr.  Weed  was  a great  reader  of  novels.  His  favorite 
authors  were  Sir  Walter  Scott  and  Charles  Dickens. 

It  is  believed  that  Mr.  Weed  was  the  first  in  this  country 
to  discover  the  authorship  of  Waverly,  which  as  is  known 
was  published  anonymously.  After  reading  some  of  that 
author’s  subsequent  novels,  acknowledged  to  be  Sir  Walter 
Scott’s,  Mr.  Weed  insisted  that  Scott  was  the  author  of 
“ Waverly,”  before  the  latter  admitted  the  authorship. 

Mr.  Weed  preferred  Dickens  to  all  other  authors,  his 
works  having  been  read  and  re-read  to  him  many  times,  and 
was  much  interested  in  their  circulation,  so  much  so  as  to 
present  many  sets  to  those  who  admired  Dickens,  but  could 
not  afford  to  buy  his  works. 

It  is  well  known  that  J.  Fenimore  Cooper  sued  Mr. 
Weed  repeatedly  for  libels  in  reviewing  his  books.  At 
one  of  the  trials,  while  the  lawyers  were  engaged  in  argu- 
ing the  case,  and  the  judge  afterwards  making  his  charge 
to  the  jury,  Mr.  Weed  was  reading  Cooper’s  last  novel, 
“ The  Deer  Slayer,”  in  which  he  became  so  deeply  inter- 
ested, he  let  the  trial  go  on  without  notice,  nor  was  he 
aware  it  was  over  until  the  jury  brought  in  their  verdict  of 
“guilty.”  This  incident  was  told  afterwards  to  Mr.  Paul 
Cooper,  nephew  of  the  great  novelist,  who  said  he  very 


512 


THURLOW  WEED. 


much  regretted  his  uncle  did  not  know  about  it  at  the 
time. 

After  Mr.  Weed  removed  to  New  York,  he  learned 
incidentally  that  Edwin  Croswell,  who  had  been  his  con- 
temporary for  so  many  years  as  the  editor  of  the  Albany 
Argus , the  organ  of  the  Democratic  party  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  but  who  had  retired  with  a competency,  had,  by 
some  unfortunate  investments,  lost  all  of  his  property,  in 
addition  to  which  misfortune  he  had  recently  been  pros- 
trated b}T  a paralytic  stroke.  He  had  requested  his  creditors 
to  take  his  residence,  the  mortgage  on  which  he  was  unable 
to  pay  the  interest,  and  cancel  the  same  ; he  had  also  been 
compelled  to  sell  his  household  effects  to  help  liquidate  his 
indebtedness,  and  went  to  live  with  a married  daughter  in 
New  Jersey.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Weed  heard  of  the  trouble  of 
his  former  political  enemy,  he  called  upon  a wealthy  friend, 
from  whom,  with  some  other  associates  and  his  own  sub- 
scription, 110,000  was  raised  for  the  benefit  of  Mr.  Croswell. 
This  money  was  invested  in  Government  bonds,  and 
handed  to  the  latter,  as  a New  Year’s  testimonial,  with  this 
correspondence  : 

“ New  York,  Jan.  1,  1871. 

“Dear  Mr.  Croswell  : 

“ Some  of  your  old  friends  and  neighbors,  availing  themselves 
of  the  festive  season,  have  united  in  a testimonial  expression  of 
their  sense  of  your  public  services  and  personal  character,  which, 
together  with  their  best  wishes  for  your  restored  health,  will  be 
presented  to  you  by  our  mutual  friend,  Mr.  Augustus  Schell. 

“ Yours  truly. 

Thurlow  Weed.” 

“Princeton,  N.  J.,  Feb.  7,  1871. 

“Dear  Mr.  Weed  : 

Our  mutual  friend,  Mr.  Augustus  Schell,  handed  me  yesterday 
your  highly  esteemed  favor  of  the  1st  January  ultimo,  together 
with  the  valuable  testimonial  by  which  it  was  accompanied,  and 
to  which  it  refers.  I find  great  difficulty  to  command  fitting 
terms  of  acknowledgment  of  this  generous  and  liberal  offering. 
Large  as  its  pecuniary  worth  is,  and  as  such,  a source  of  grateful 


THURLOW  WEED. 


513 


thanksgiving,  it  is  especially  precious  in  my  eyes  as  an  expression 
of  approval  of  my  public  services  and  personal  character,  coming 
from  a body  of  intelligent  and  enlightened  friends  whose  good 
opinion  and  favorable  judgment  are  of  inestimable  value.  To  you, 
my  dear  Mr.  Weed,  allow  me  to  say  that  I feel  a particular  con- 
sciousness of  your  voluntary  kindness  and  action  in  this  matter, 
springing  from  emotions  of  an  ever-generous  nature  ; and  I beg 
you  to  convey  to  my  friends  in  your  own  good  time  and  manner, 
my  cordial  and  grateful  acceptance  of  their  testimonial. 

“ Very  truly  yours, 

Edwin  Croswell.” 

The  memoirs  of  Thurlow  Weed  by  his  grandson,  Thur- 
low  Weed  Barnes,  have  recently  been  published,  thus  com- 
pleting the  life  history  of  this  venerable  printer,  journalist, 
diplomat  and  statesman.  The  work  is  very  ably  written. 
Mr.  Barnes  says  in  the  preface  : 

“ In  devoting  the  ensuing  pages  largely  to  the  period  between 
1840  and  1882,  and  more  particularly  to  that  between  1850  and 
1867,  the  writer  is  but  carrying  out  the  purpose  which  his  grand- 
father cherished.  When  possible — as  it  has  been  often — Mr. 
Weed’s  own  words,  in  well  remembered  conversations,  in  news- 
paper articles,  or  in  unpublished  fragments  of  autobiography, 
have  been  employed.  As  frequently  the  narrative  is  carried  on  by 
selections  from  the  letters  which  passed  between  him  and  other 
public  men,  written  without  reserve,  and,  of  course,  without  a 
thought  of  publication,  these  letters  illumine  with  wonderful  dis- 
tinctness and  fidelity,  not  only  the  characters  of  those  who  wrote 
them,  but  the  times  in  which  they  lived.” 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  following  extract  from  this 
interesting  volume,  what  were  Mr.  Weed’s  intentions  had 
he  lived  to  carry  them  out  : 

“ It  was  now  with  abundant  leisure  and  deprived  of  all  other 
former  methods  of  occupation,  that  he  began  to  jot  down  remin- 
iscences of  his  life,  thinking,  as  his  daughter  told  him,  that  at 
some  future  day  they  might  interest  his  children.  They  were 
written  without  thought  of  publication.  In  fact,  when  he  started 
for  home,  he  forgot  all  about  the  manuscript,  which  was,  how- 

22* 


514 


THURLOW  weed. 


ever,  secured  by  Miss  Weed,  as  she  was  leaving  for  the  ship. 
Then  for  twenty  years  it  was  not  mentioned,  until  one  day  in 
1865,  when  finding  the  papers,  she  took  them  to  him  and  began 
to  read  them  aloud.  ‘What  is  all  that  V he  asked.  She  recalled 
to  his  mind  the  neglected  narrative,  and  hoping  thus  to  give  him 
congenial  employment,  declared  that  it  ought  to  be  finished  and 
published.  ‘ I don’t  know  about  that,’  said  he,  with  a smile.” 

“ Washington,  Dec.  80,  1865. 

“ My  Dear  Weed: 

“ Our  friends  are  so  faithful  that  we  ought  to  be  tolerant  of 
their  weaknesses.  They  do  not  see  always  as  we  do  the  wisdom 
that  lies  in  the  exercise  of  reasonable  self-confidence,  especially 
where  we  are  dealing  with  strangers. 

“As  for  writing  a book,  you  ought  to  leave  one.  I ought  not. 
How  either  could  make  one  without  making  the  other  seem  respon- 
sible, is  a difficulty.  My  book,  if  I wrote  one,  would  be  charged 
to  you,  just  as  much  as  if  you  wrote  it,  yours,  in  like  manner  to 
me. 

“ Perhaps  the  ostensible  link  may  be  severed  by  death  or  polit- 
ical accident,  and  it  may  be  well  for  you  to  be  prepared  for  it. 

“ Your  faithful  friend, 

“William  H.  Seward.” 

“ So  many  friends  concurred  in  this  view — that  Mr.  Weed 
should  go  on  with  his  writing — that  finally  in  1869,  though  in 
poor  health,  he  took  up  the  work,  with  his  daughter  Harriet  as 
amanuensis.  And  thus,  with  the  exception  of  a few  introductory 
pages,  his  “ Autobiography  ” was  written  entirely  by  dictation, 
after  he  had  passed  his  seventy-first  year. 

“Often  Mr.  Frederick  W.  Seward  took  Harriet’s  place.  He 
had  grown  up  from  boyhood  as  much  at  ease  and  as  welcome  in 
Mr.  Weed’s  house  as  that  of  his  father,  dividing  his  early  life  be- 
tween Auburn  and  Albany.  In  the  preparation  of  a volume 
requiring  constant  reference  to  newspaper  files,  letters,  and  public 
documents,  loss  of  vision  was  a very  serious  deprivation. 

“ Mr.  Seward’s  genial  presence  and  accurate  knowledge  of  pub- 
lic affairs,  constituted  a refreshing  and  a sustaining  influence. 
When  he  went  to  Washington  in  1867,  as  Assistant  Secretary  of 
State,  the  position  which  he  filled  during  the  administration  of 
Presidents  Lincoln  and  Johnson,  the  narrative  was  laid  aside  un- 


TIIURLOW  WEED. 


515 


til  his  return.  As  time  went  on  it  came  to  be  Mr.  Weed’s  hope 
that  under  the  Providence  by  which  he  was  so  long  and  so  merci- 
fully guided,  he  might  finish  the  book.” 

An  interesting  incident  is  told  which  occurred  early  in 
1863.  Mr.  Weed  was  summoned  to  Washington  by  a tele- 
gram from  the  President.  At  the  White  House,  Lincoln, 
taking  him  by  the  hand  in  his  cordial  fashion,  said  : 

“ Mr.  Weed,  we  are  in  a tight  place.  Money  for  legit- 
imate purposes  is  needed  immediately  ; hut  there  is  no  ap- 
propriation from  which  it  can  be  lawfully  taken.  I didn’t 
know  how  to  raise  it,  and  so  I sent  for  you.” 

“ How  much  is  required  ?”  asked  Mr.  Weed. 

“Fifteen  thousand  dollars,”  said  the  President.  “ Can 
you  get  it  ? ” 

“If  you  must  have  it  at  once,  give  me  two  lines  to 
that  effect.” 

Mr.  Lincoln  turned  to  his  desk  and  wrote  a few  words 
on  a slip  of  paper.  Handing  it  to  Mr.  Weed,  he  said, 
“Will  that  do  ?” 

“ It  will,”  said  Mr  Weed  ; “ the  money  will  be  at  your 
disposition  to-morrow  morning.” 

On  the  next  train  Mr.  Weed  left  Washington,  and  be- 
fore 5 o’clock  that  afternoon  the  slip  of  paper  which  he 
carried  in  his  pocket,  and  which  read  as  follows  : 

“Washington,  Feb.  19th,  1863. 

“ Mr.  Weed:  The  matters  I spoke  to  you  about  are  import- 
ant. I hope  you  will  not  neglect  them. 

“ Truly  yours, 

“A.  Lincoln.” 

— was  indorsed  by  fifteen  of  the  richest  men  in  Mew  York, 
who  subscribed  one  thousand  dollars  each.  That  evening 
the  fifteen  thousand  dollars  was  sent  to  Washington. 

Following  the  delivery  of  that  inaugural  address  in  1865, 
in  which  Lincoln,  “ with  malice  toward  none,  with  charity 
to  all,”  took  up  the  great  work  of  “healing  the  nation’s 


516 


THURLOW  WEED. 


wounds/’  and  “achieving  a just  and  lasting  peace/’  Thur- 
low  Weed,  in  fervent  admiration  of  the  sublime  spirit 
which  animated  the  famous  address,  wrote  a congratulatory 
note  to  the  President.  “ Lincoln/’  says  Mr.  Barnes, 
“ seems  to  have  felt  that  nothing  which  he  ever  wrote  would 
sink  so  deep  into  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,  would  live 
so  long — would  so  entitle  him  to  the  gratitude  and  admira- 
tion of  the  world,  as  this  same  address.  Shortly  after  it 
was  spoken,  and  less  than  a month  before  his  death,  he 
wrote  to  Mr.  Weed  a letter,  than  which  none  in  this  vol- 
ume is  more  worthy  to  be  preserved  : ” 

“ Executive  Mansion, 

“ Washington,  D.  C.,  March  15th,  1865. 

‘Dear  Mr.  Weed:  Every  one  likes  a compliment.  Thank 
you  for  yours  on  my  little  notification  speech  and  on  the  recent 
inaugural  address. 

“ I expect  the  latter  to  wear  as  well  as — perhaps  better  than — 
anything  I have  produced;  but  I believe  it  is  not  immediately 
popular.  Men  are  not  flattered  by  being  shown  that  there  has 
been  a difference  of  purpose  between  the  Almighty  and  them.  To 
deny  it,  however,  in  this  case,  is  to  deny  that  there  is  a God  gov- 
erning the  world. 

“ It  is  a truth  which  I thought  needed  to  be  told,  and  as  what- 
ever of  humiliation  there  is  in  it  falls  most  directly  on  myself,  I 
thought  others  might  afford  for  me  to  tell  it. 

“Truly  yours, 

“A.  Lincoln.” 


XXXII. 


LEE  AND  SHEPARD. 

A well-known  and  popular  Firm — William  Fee  as  Clerk 
and  Partner — - He  /Sells  out  for  $65,000 — John  P. 
Jewett  and  “ Charlie  ” Shepard — Lee  and  Shepard 
become  Partners — Aiiecdote  of  Emerson — “ I am 
waiting  for  the  inspiration  ” — “ Airs.  Emerson  wants 
some  Aloney  to-day  ” — Phillips  & Sampson  decline 
“ Uncle  Tom  ” — Airs.  Stowe  writes  “ Dred  ” and  takes 
a Glass  of  Wine — The  Origin  of  the  u Atlantic 
Monthly ” — Prescott , the  Historian , changes  Publishers 
— Undemoood  as  an  Author — President  Way  land  finds 
a Publisher — “ Oliver  Optic's  ” popularity — Xee, 
Shepard  cO  Dillingham. 

rPHE  Boston  firm  of  Lee  & Shepard,  now  so  well  known 
throughout  the  United  States  and  Dominion  of 
Canada,  have  been  in  business  under  the  present  style  of 
the  firm  for  nearly  a quarter  of  a century. 

This  house  is  without  doubt  the  largest  concern  in  New 
England  which  combines  the  publishing  and  vending  of 
books  other  than  their  own  publications,  and,  with  one 
exception,  the  largest  in  America.  Both  of  the  gentlemen 
comprising  the  firm  are  well  and  favorably  known  among 
the  book  trade  in  this  country,  with  whom  they  are  so 
deservedly  popular. 

My  own  pleasant  relations  and  personal  friendship  with 
each  of  them  dates  back  more  than  thirty  years. 

In  the  year  1848  Mr.  William  Lee  became  the  junior 
partner  of  the  then  well-known  Boston  publishers,  Phillips, 

[517] 


518 


LEE  & SHEPARD. 


Sampson  & Co.  He  had  begun  to  learn  the  bookselling 
business  when  but  a youngster  of  eleven  years.  His  first 
employer  was  Samuel  G-.  Drake,  who  was  not  only  an  anti- 
quarian bookseller,  but  also  a historian  of  some  repute. 
Young  Lee  learned  the  bookselling  business  very  rapidly, 
and  when  eighteen  years  old  entered  the  employment  of 
Phillips  & Sampson,  who  were  at  that  time  the  most  wide- 
awake, ambitious,  and  enterprising  publishers  in  Boston. 

About  1854,  having  commenced  business  on  my  own 
account  in  New  York,  I also  became  the  agent  for  the  sale 
of  Phillips,  Sampson  & Co/s  publications,  which  brought 
me  into  close  relation  with  that  firm,  and  especially  with 
Mr.  Lee,  who  was  considered  the  active  business  man  of 
the  house.  Mr.  Lee’s  industrious  habits  and  thorough 
knowledge  of  all  kinds  of  books  made  him  a valuable 
auxiliary  to  the  house,  and  up  to  the  time  of  his  retire- 
ment an  important  factor  in  their  eminently  successful 
career. 

In  the  year  1857,  Mr.  Lee’s  health  failing  from  close 
application  to  business,  he  sold  out  his  entire  interest  in 
the  firm  to  his  partners  for  the  sum  of  $65,000,  the  largest 
portion  of  which  was  in  promissory  notes. 

In  the  spring  of  1858,  he  visited  England,  France, 
Spain  and  other  foreign  countries.  While  in  France,  he 
learned  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Phillips — Mr.  Sampson  having 
died  several  months  before — just  as  he  was  starting  on  a 
second  trip  to  Spain.  He  thought  he  would  wait  until  the 
next  mail  from  the  United  States  came  in,  which  brought 
him  the  astonishing  news  that  the  firm  had  failed,  when 
he  immediately  returned  home  and  found  a disasterous 
state  of  things  which  compelled  liquidation. 

Three  years  later  in  February,  1862,  he  entered  into 
partnership  with  Charles  Augustus  Billings  Shepard,  who, 
like  Mr.  Lee,  had  been  brought  up  in  the  bookselling  busi- 
ness, entering  when  but  a youngster  the  employ  of  the  late 
John  P.  Jewett,  who  afterwards  became  famous  as  the  pub- 
lisher of  “ Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin.” 


LEE  & SHEPARD. 


519 


Mr.  Jewett  has  said  that  much  of  his  success  in  business 
was  due  to  his  young  and  energetic  clerk,  Charlie  Shepard. 
Mr.  Shepard  was  for  a time  senior  partner  of  Shepard, 
Clark  & Brown,  who  discontinued  business  in  the  year 
1859.  William  Lee  and  Charles  Shepard  have  been  inti- 
mate friends  for  nearly  half  a century  and  both  of  them 
have  a thorough  knowledge  as  well  as  a gennine  love  for 
the  vocation  of  their  calling.  They  seem  to  know 
intuitively  the  salable  qualities  of  a book. 

Mr.  Lee’s  long  connection  with  Phillips,  Sampson  & 
Co.  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  meeting  many  of  the  noted 
authors  of  the  day. 

In  a recent  conversation  with  him  he  said,  while  he 
was  a member  of  the  firm  of  Phillips,  Sampson  & Co.,  they 
published  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson's  Essays  and  also  his 
‘tf  Representative  Men."  These  books  had  been  previously 
published  by  James  Munroe  & Co.,  having  met  with  but 
little  sale,  and  as1  Mr.  Emerson  owned  the  plates  he  arranged 
with  the  more  enterprising  firm  to  publish  them.  There 
was  quite  a call  for  his  essays,  which  were  out  of  print,  and 
Mr.  Lee  influenced  Mr.  Phillips  to  ask  Mr.  Emerson  to 
allow  them  to  get  out  a new  edition,  which  he  declined  on 
the  ground  that  he  wanted  to  make  some  alterations,  as 
some  of  them  were  written  when  he  was  quite  a young 
man.  One  morning  Mr.  Phillips  said  to  Mr.  Emerson, 
“ Why  not  let  us  print  from  your  plates  a small  edition  of 
your  essays  ?"  The  latter  replied  : “ I want  to  re-write 

some  and  leave  out  some  of  them."  Said  Phillips  : “ Why 
don't  you  do  it  ? You  have  been  saying  that  for  many 
months."  “ Mr.  Phillips,"  said  Mr.  Emerson,  in  his 
peculiar  manner  of  speech,  “ I am  waiting  for  the  inspira- 
tion. I can't  do  much  without  the  inspiration ."  He 
made  the  changes,  leaving  out  some  of  the  minor  poems,, 
after  which  an  edition  was  printed  and  sold  readily. 

Mr.  Lee  says,  when  Emerson  wanted  any  copyright 
money  he  would  come  into  Mr.  Phillips'  private  office  and 
say:  “Mrs.  Emerson  says  she  would  like  to  have  some 


520 


LEE  & SHEPARD. 


money  to-day,  so  I told  her  I would  go  in  and  ask  the  Ba- 
rons of  Winter  Street  for  a check.”  He  was  in  the  habit  of 
designating  his  publishers  in  that  way,  their  place  of  busi- 
ness being  on  Winter  Street  at  that  time. 

Soon  after  Phillips,  Sampson  & Co.  published  Cather- 
ine Beecher’s  “ True  Remedy  for  Woman’s  Wrongs,”  she 
called  on  Mr.  Phillips  and  told  him  she  was  authorized  to 
negotiate  with  him  for  the  publication  of  “ Uncle  Tom’s 
Cabin.”  This  was  before  the  author  had  closed  with  John 
P.  Jewett  & Co.  One  day,  after  she  had  gone  out,  Mr. 
Phillips  called  Mr.  Lee  and  said  : “ William,  what  do  you 
think  of  publishing  an  anti-slavery  story  by  Harriet  Beecher 
Stowe?  It  has  been  running  in  the  National  Era , and  her 
sister  says  it  is  a very  powerful  story.”  Mr.  Lee  said  in 
reply,  that  of  an  anti-slavery  novel  published  in  an  anti- 
slavery newspaper,  they  never  could  sell  a thousand  copies 
in  book  form  ; besides,  there  was  so  much  feeling  against 
interfering  with  what  was  then  called  “The  rights  of  the 
South,”  it  would  not  pay.  Both  Phillips  and  Sampson  were 
Democrats ; Mr.  Lee  was  a Whig,  but  the  firm  agreed  never 
to  let  politics  interfere  with  their  business.  Their  firm  had 
at  that  time  a very  large  Southern  trade,  and  Mr.  Lee  argued, 
that  if  they  published  an  anti-slavery  novel,  it  would  disturb 
their  business  relations  with  the  South,  beyond  any  compen- 
sation that  would  result  from  its  sale — a purely  mercantile 
view.  Accordingly,  the  firm  declined  “Uncle  Tom,”  and 
Mr.  Jewett  became  its  publisher.  All  the  members  of  the 
firm  lived  long  enough  to  regret  their  great  mistake  in  de- 
clining a fortune. 

They  afterwards  became  the  publishers  of  Mrs.  Stowe’s 
“ Sunny  Memories  of  Foreign  Lands,”  of  which  they  sold 
in  one  day,  fifteen  thousand  sets ; and  then,  of  her  “Dred, 
a Tale  of  the  Dismal  Swamp.” 

Mr.  Lee  says  he  heard  Mrs.  Stowe  once  say  that  she 
walked  the  floor  and  dictated  to  an  amanuensis  when  she 
wrote  the  latter.  She  came  into  the  store  one  day  after  the 
book  was  written  and  said  to  Mr.  Phillips  : “ I’m  entirely 


LEE  & SHEPARD. 


521 


exhausted  !”  Mr.  Phillips  called  Mr.  Lee,  and  said  : “ Mrs. 
Stowe  is  feeling  very  much  exhausted/  She  has  just  fin- 
ished her  book  ‘ Dred/  Perhaps  if  she  could  get  a glass 
of  wine  it  would  revive  her/’  Lee  put  on  his  hat  and  went 
to  the  Tremont  House  to  get  a bottle  of  champagne,  and  on 
his  return  poured  out  a couple  of  glasses.  Mr.  Phillips 
took  it  to  her,  and  he  said  afterward  that  Mrs.  Stowe  was 
very  grateful  and  that  it  had  refreshed  her  very  much. 
When  she  was  going  home  she  said  to  Mr.  Phillips  : “ Creat- 
ing a story  is  like  bearing  a child,  and  it  leaves  me  in  as 
weak  and  helpless  a state  as  when  my  baby  was  born.”  Her 
whole  mind  was  wrought  up  in  the  story  and  she  would 
pace  the  floor  late  at  night  dictating  to  her  amanuensis. 
The  book  is  now  published  under  the  title  “Nina  Gordon.” 
Mr.  Phillips  heard  Mrs.  Stowe  say  that  when  she  was  about 
in  the  middle  of  the  book  the  assault  on  Charles  Sumner 
took  place,  and  she  was  so  indignant  at  the  outrage,  that 
instead  of  carrying  out  some  of  her  characters  and  making 
them  like  little  Eva,  charming  and  tender,  she  introduced 
this  spirit  of  revenge  under  the  name  of  the  negro  Dred. 
There  were  criticisms  at  the  time  which  stated  that  she  was 
not  artistic  in  the  formation  of  her  story ; the  story  bears 
internal  evidence  of  the  truth  of  this  statement. 

Mr.  Francis  H.  Underwood,  who  was  then  connected 
with  the  firm,  came  in  from  Cambridge  one  morning  and 
said  : “ The  contract  for  e Ferdinand,  and  Isabella  ’ and  the 
‘ Conquest  of  Mexico  and  of  Peru’  has  run  out,  and  Mr. 
Prescott  has  got  a new  work  under  way,”  and  urged  Mr. 
Phillips  to  call  on  Mr.  Prescott  at  his  fine  residence  in 
Lynn.  Mr.  Prescott  frankly  told  Mr.  Phillips  that  his 
contract  with  the  Harpers  had  run  out.  He  said  he  felt 
bound  in  courtesy  to  give  them  an  opportunity  to  renew 
it,  but  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  his  receiving  any  prop- 
osition for  the  publication  of  the  new  book  and  a contract 
for  the  old  one  from  any  other  house.  The  Harpers  were 
paying  fifty  cents  per  volume  copyright  on  each  book  they 
sold.  The  wholesale  price  was  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents. 


522 


LEE  & SHEPARD. 


Mr.  Phillips  then  made  him  a proposition  guaranteeing  a 
sale  of  twelve  thousand  sets  of  “ Philip  II./’  and  that  they 
would  pay  him  six  thousand  dollars  when  the  two  volumes 
were  published,  and  at  the  end  of  six  months  from  the  day 
of  their  publication  six  thousand  dollars  more.  For  the 
other  books  they  offered  to  pay  him  a half  dollar  a volume 
on  all  that  were  sold.  Mr.  Prescott  was  very  much  pleased 
with  the  proposition.  He  wrote  to  the  Harpers  asking  if 
they  wanted  to  make  a new  contract,  and  intimating  that 
he  would  like  to  receive  a proposition  guaranteeing  the 
number  of  copies  they  would  sell  of  “ Philip  II.”  They 
wrote  a very  manly  business  letter  back,  saying  they  should 
be  very  glad  to  renew*  the  contract,  that  they  would  sell  all 
the  copies  they  could,  but  didn’t  feel  it  was  necessary  for 
them  to  guarantee  any  number.  Of  course,  that  relieved 
Prescott  and  left  him  at  liberty  to  make  a contract  with 
Phillips,  Sampson  & Co.  Another  provision  of  that  con- 
tract was  if  Phillips,  Sampson  & Co.  didn’t  sell  that  num- 
ber within  the  specified  time  it  was  their  loss.  After  they 
had  got  the  book  out  and  were  selling  it,  Mr.  Prescott  came 
in  one  day  and  said,  “ Will  you  allow  me  to  take  that  con- 
tract, which  we  signed  the  other  day  ? I want  to  make  an 
alteration  or  two  in  it  and  submit  it  to  you.”  It  was  deliv- 
ered to  him.  When  he  returned  it  the  contract  read, 
that,  in  case  the  publishers  did  not  sell  the  twrelve 
thousand  volumes  of  Phillip  II.,  as  agreed,  they  should  not 
pay  any  copyright  on  those  volumes  until  the  same  accrued 
by  actual  sales.  This  was  entirely  voluntary  on  his  part. 
T.;e  work  was  very  successful,  and  started  up  the  large 
sales  of  the  other  works  of  Prescott  all  over  the  country. 

Mr.  Underwood  was  the  original  projector  of  the 
Atlantic  Monthly  but  under  another  title.  He  first 
proposed  the  plan  of  the  magazine  to  Mr.  Phillips,  the  se- 
nior partner  of  the  firm  of  Phillips  Sampson  & Co.,  of 
which  * William  Lee  was  the  junior  member.  The  latter 
strongly  advocated  the  undertaking,  and  his  influence  with 


* Lee  & Shepard. 


LEE  & SHEPARD. 


523 


the  firm  prevailed.  Mr.  Underwood  was  then  engaged  by 
the  house  to  open  correspondence  with  leading  writers  in 
this  country  and  Europe,  with  a view  to  securing  their  con- 
tributions to  the  proposed  magazine.  When  the  project 
finally  took  shape,  a dinner  was  given  by  Phillips,  Sampson 
& Co.,  at  the  Parker  House,  to  a number  of  prominent  lit- 
erary people,  among  those  present  were  Longfellow, 
Holmes  and  Lowell.  It  was  decided  then  and  there,  on  the 
proposition  of  Mr.  Underwood,  that  James  Russell  Lowell 
should  be  the  editor-in-chief.  He  also  proposed  that  the 
magazine  should  be  called  The  Orient.  Hr.  Holmes  said 
“ The  Orient  is  too  much  affected  with  the  mysticism  of 
the  other  side  of  the  world.  Why  not  give  it  a geographi- 
cal name  : The  Atlantic?  Ho  matter  what  the  name  may 
be  when  it  is  given,  after  the  thing  for  which  it  stands  has 
manifested  its  quality,  then  that  quality  will  be  transferred 
to  the  name.  The  Atlantic  may  mean  something  or 
nothing ; if  you  can  make  it  a success,  it  will  mean  every- 
thing.” Afterwards,  the  publishers  and  contributors  to  the 
Atlantic  dined  together  at  Parker’s  once  a month. 

Mr.  Underwood  is  the  author  of  two  excellent  hand- 
books of  English  and  American  literature,  published  by 
Lee  & Shepard.  The  latter  volume  is  most  worthily 
dedicated  as  follows  : 

TO 

WILLIAM  LEE, 

AS  A TRIBUTE  TO  THE  INTELLIGENCE,  UPRIGHTNESS 
AND  LIBERALITY,  MANIFESTED  IN  HIS 
DEALINGS  WITH  AUTHORS, 

AND 

AS  A RECOGNITION  OF  HIS  CONSTANT  FRIENDSHIP 
FOR  TWENTY  YEARS, 

THIS  VOLUME  IS  RESPECTFULLY  INSCRIBED, 

BY  THE  AUTHOR. 

When  the  celebrated  Dr.  Erancis  Wayland  had  finished 
his  “ Life  of  Dr.  Judson,”  he  invited  proposals  from  all 
publishers.  Among  others,  Phillips,  Sampson  & Co.,  sent  in 


524 


LEE  & SHEPARD. 


their  proposal,  to  pay  20  per  cent,  royalty.  There  was  a good 
deal  of  complaint  made  by  the  friends  of  the  Baptist  houses 
when  it  was  decided  to  give  Phillips,  Sampson  & Co.,  the 
contract.  They  were  called  an  irreligious  house,  being  the 
publishers  of  Bulwer’s  and  Byron’s  works.  The  charge 
started  up  the  old  doctor  considerably.  Mr.  Phillips  finally 
said  to  him  : “ Our  Mr.  Lee  is  a great  orthodox  man.  We 
publish  for  Dr.  Edward  Beecher,  and  Lee  goes  to  his 
church.”  That  settled  the  case.  Mr.  Lee  carried  religion 
enough  to  carry  the  book.  The  sale  was  very  large,  advance 
orders  reaching  thirty  thousand  sets. 

One  of  the  most  famous  authors  of  Lee  and  Shepard’s 
list  is  J.  T.  Trowbridge,  author  of  “Father  Brighthopes.” 
Besides  his  novels,  they  publish  many  of  his  juvenile  books, 
some  sixteen  volumes,  all  of  which  are  very  popular. 
Sophie  May  is  the  nom  de  plume  of  Rebecca  S.  Clark  ; she 
is  the  author  of  “Little  Prudy,”  “Dotty  Dimple”  and 
“Flaxy  Frizzle.”  They  are  the  most  popular  juvenile  books 
published  in  this  country  at  the  present  time.  Lee  & 
Shepard  have  published  twenty-eight  different  books  of  hers 
alone.  Mr.  T.  W.  Higginson,  in  an  article  in  the  North 
American  Revieiv,  after  mentioning  the  different  authors 
up  to  that  time,  commencing  fifteen  years  ago,  speaks  of 
“Little  Prudy”  and  gives  the  author  of  that  series  the 
highest  praise  of  all. 

Speaking  of  the  immense  sales  of  the  celebrated  Oliver 
Optic  books,  Mr.  Lee  relates  the  following  incident  which 
recently  occurred,  as  giving  the  key-note  to  their  great 
popularity  : 

“ One  day,  about  a dozen  years  ago,  the  good  City  of  Newbury- 
port,  was  very  much  excited  over  the  disappearance  of  a bright  ten- 
year-old  boy,  a son  of  one  of  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  the 
Merrimac  port.  Untiring  search  and  widespread  inquiry  on  the 
part  of  anxious  persons  and  sympathetic  neighbors  were  alike  una- 
vailing, until,  on  the  second  day,  the  missing  lad  reappeared  as 
suddenly  as  he  had  vanished.  It  then  transpired  that  the  boy  had 
been  reading  Oliver  Optic’s  books,  and  had  been  impelled,  not  to 


LEE  & SHEPAKD. 


525 


fight  the  red-skinned  hair-lifters  of  the  prairie — for  his  books  never 
incited  a boy  to  do  that — but  to  make  a pilgrimage  to  Dorchester, 
and  visit,  at  his  own  home,  the  author  over  whose  entrancing 
pages  he  had  hung  with  such  absorbed  interest;  and  the  little 
fellow  returned  from  his  Mecca  strongly  impressed  and  enthusias- 
tic in  his  praises  of  the  personality  of  the  writer  whose  books  are 
so  familiar  to  thousands  of  young  readers.” 

Of  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  copies  published  and 
scattered  broadcast  through  the  land,  thousands  found  a 
ready  market  in  Sunday  school  libraries  of  Western 
towns.  So  clamorous  was  the  demand  for  these  books, 
augmented  by  the  fact  that  the  scarcity  of  public  libraries 
put  them  beyond  the  reach  of  many,  that  in  some  places 
the  one  or  two  Sunday  schools  which  first  placed  the 
coveted  treasures  upon  their  shelves,  soon  found  their 
churches  far  too  small  to  hold  their  accessions  of  scholars 
from  far  and  near  ; and  not  only  did  recruits  pour  in  from  the 
ranks  of  habitual  non-attendants,  but  there  was  a general 
exodus  from  the  Sunday  schools  of  less  enterprising  de- 
nominations. 

“ The  Golden  Floral”  is  a series  of  fourteen  popular 
hymns  and  ballads,  among  which  are,  “ Rock  of  Ages,” 
“ Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee,”  “Abide  with  me,”  and  “ Oh, 
why  should  the  Spirit  of  Mortal  be  proud,”  which  have  met 
with  immense  success.  This  firm  claims  to  be  the  origin- 
ators of  this  novel  way  of  decorating  holiday  books. 

The  New  York  house  of  Lee,  Shepard  & Dillingham, 
was  merged  into  that  of  Charles  T.  Dillingham  in  1875. 
Mr.  Dillingham  is  well-known  as  one  of  the  youngest  of  our 
wholesale  booksellers,  being  the  proprietor  of  one  of 
the  largest  jobbing  houses  in  this  City.  He  is  still  Lee  & 
Shepard’s  representative  for  their  publications,  and  special 
agent  for  the  sale,  at  the  publisher’s  prices,  of  the  books  of 
the  leading  publishers  in  New  York  and  Boston. 


xxxm. 


A POETESS  AND  HER  SON. 


ELIZABETH  CLEMENTINE  KINNEY. 


Mother  of  Stedman  the  Poet — Marries  an  Ambassador  to 
Italy — The  centre  of  literary  Society — Griswold's 
Tribute  to  her  Genius — She  spends  a day  with  the 
Brownings — Browning's  Romantic  Marriage — Beau- 
tiful Tribute  from  a Son. 


S stated  in  the  sketch  of  Edmund  Clarence  Stedman, 


■*“  that  author  inherits  much  of  his  literary  talent  from 
his  mother,  who  was  married  for  the  second  time  in  1840, 
to  Hon.  William  B.  Kinney,  then  the  editor  of  the  Newark 
Daily  Advertiser,  a gentleman  well  known  in  political  and 
literary  circles. 

Soon  after  Mrs.  Kinney’s  marriage  she  became  the 
charming  centre  of  a brilliant  literary  circle  in  Newark. 

The  language  of  song  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the 
instincts  of  her  nature,  and  if  she  did  not  actually  “ lisp 
in  numbers”  her  poetical  temperament  was  very  early  mani- 
fest, and  has  always  been  very  strong. 

Rev.  Rufus  W.  Griswold  says,  in  speaking  of  Mrs.  Kin- 
ney in  his  Female  Prose  Writers  of  America  : 

“ One  of  her  friends  whose  opportunities  to  know  are  as  great 
as  his  acknowledged  sagacity  of  criticism  to  judge,  observes,  in  a 
letter  to  me,  that  ‘ decidedly  the  most  free,  salient,  and  character- 


[526] 


ELIZABETH  CLEMENTINE  KINNEY. 


527 


istic  effusions,  of  her  buoyant  spirit,  have  been  thrown  off  currente 
calamo,  in  correspondence  and  intercourse  with  her  friends. 
With  a modesty  equal  to  her  genius,  and  an  adequate  sense  of 
their  function,  she  never  deemed  herself  of  the  company  of  poets; 
possessing  in  a remarkable  degree  the  ‘ fatal  facility,’  she  has 
written  verse  from  childhood,  but  never  with  any  of  the  usual  in- 
centives, except  the  desire  of  utterance,  and  the  gratification  of  her 
friends.  ‘The  Spirit  of  Song,’  one  of  her  latest  pieces,  is  but  a 
simple  expression  of  her  habitual  feelings  on  the  subject.” 

In  1850  Mr.  Kinney  was  appointed  charge  d’  affaires  at 
Sardinia,  by  the  new  Whig  Administration,  which  his  in- 
fluential paper  had  done  so  much  to  bring  into  politi- 
cal power. 

Soon  after  Mrs.  Kinney's  arrival  in  Europe  with  the  new 
Ambassador  she  contributed  articles  for  Blackwood’s  Mag- 
azine and  wrote  a series  of  letters  to  the  Newark  Advertiser 
from  Florence,  Italy,  where  she  resided  for  many  years. 
These  letters  were  collected  by  her  and  were  ready  for  pub- 
lication by  my  firm,  under  the  title  of  “ Pictures  of  Italy,” 
when  the  civil  war  broke  out  and  we  discontinued  business. 
While  in  Florence  she  saw  much  of  the  poets  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Browning,  the  Trollopes  and  Owen  Meredith.  Her  house 
was  the  well  known  centre  of  English  and  American  liter- 
ary society. 

In  an  interesting  accouut  written  for  Scribner’s  Monthly 
of  December,  1870,  in  the  article,  f*  A Day  with  the 
Brownings  at  Pratolino,”  Mrs.  Kinney  says  she  “ spent  the 
whole  day  with  them  in  strolling  and  lounging,  admiring 
and  commenting,  poetizing  and  philosophizing,  conversing 
and  enjoying.”  She  further  says  that  : “ So  familiar  had 
become  the  united  names  of  these  wedded  poets,  that  we 
can  hardly  speak  of  them  separately  now,  yet  never  were 
two  made  more  dissimilar,  in  every  feature  of  body  and 
mind,  than  Elizabeth  Barrett  and  Robert  Browning,  still 
never  were  an  endowed  couple  more  truly  united  than 
they.” 

Continuing,  she  says  : 


528 


ELIZABETH  CLEMENTINE  KINNEY. 


“ To  return  to  Pratolino!  The  poet’s  story  of  his  love  had 
sharpened  our  appetite,  and  we  gathered  at  the  rustic  table  in  the 
grove,  where  our  queen  Elizabeth  crowned  the  feast.  Recovered 
by  rest  from  the  morning’s  fatigue,  she  was  able  to  join,  though 
not  again  to  lead,  our  conversation.  Under  the  stimulus  of  appe- 
tizing viands  and  good  wine  in  moderation,  Robert  Browning’s 
spirits  overflowed,  even  to  the  confession  of  telling  us  their 
romance,  receiving  only  from  its  tieroiue  the  slight  punishment  of 
her,  ‘ Robert,  dear  ! how  could  you  ?’  After  lunch  we  all  went 
to  the  brow  of  the  hill,  and  together  looked  out  on  that  marvel- 
ous view,  backed  by  the  Apennines  in  their  afternoon  glory  ; 
while  before  us  lay  dreamily,  under  a softening  mist  veil,  Florence 
the  beautiful.  All  that  Elizabeth  Browning  said,  after  gazing  a 
while  in  silence,  was,  ‘How  it  speaks  to  us!’ 

“ We  returned  to  Florence  just  as  the  sun  was  setting  behind 
the  Tuscan  Hills,  aud  the  moon  rising  on  our  forward  path  as  a 
welcome.  When  we  rolled  under  the  arched  gateway  of  Casa 
Guidi,  a tired  voice  said,  faintly,  ‘How  I thank  you!’  While  in 
heartiest  tone  Robert  Browning  repeated,  ‘ Ay,  thanks  for  a real 
pleasure-day !’  As  for  us,  we  could  only  claim  our  right  to  all  the 
thanksgiving,  and  respond,  ‘ Yes,  a day  to  be  remembered,  and — ’ 
recorded  here  !” 

The  literary  public  are  already  aware  of  the  romantic 
introduction  of  Robert  Browning  to  his  future  wife.  Mrs. 
Kinney  gives  the  following  interesting  account  of  his  first 
interview  and  its  consequences— the  story  as  told  her  by  the 
poet  himself : 

“Finding  that  the  invalid  did  not  receive  strangers,  he  wrote 
her  a letter,  intense  with  his  desire  to  see  her.  She  reluctantly 
consented  to  an  interview.  He  flew  to  her  apartment,  was  admit- 
ted by  the  nurse,  in  whose  presence  only  could  he  see  the  deity  at 
whose  shrine  he  had  long  worshipped.  But  the  golden  opportu- 
nity was  not  to  be  lost;  love  became  oblivious  to  any  save  the 
presence  of  the  real  of  its  ideal.  Then  and  there  Robert  Brown- 
ing poured  his  impassioned  soul  into  hers;  though  his  tale  of  love 
seemed  only  an  enthusiast’s  dream.  Infirmity  had  hitherto  so 
hedged  her  about,  that  she  deemed  herself  forever  protected  from 
all  assaults  of  love.  Indeed,  she  felt  only  injured  that  a fellow- 


ELIZABETH  CLEMENTINE  KINNEY. 


529 


poet  should  take  advantage,  as  it  were,  of  her  indulgence  in  grant- 
ing him  an  interview,  and  requested  him  to  withdraw  from  her 
presence,  not  attempting  any  response  to  his  proposal,  which  she 
could  not  believe  in  earnest.  Of  course  he  withdrew  from  her 
sight,  but  he  withdrew  the  offer  of  his  heart  and  hand  aucontraire, 
to  repeat  it  by  letter,  and  in  such  wise  as  to  convince  her  how 
i dead  in  earnest’  he  was.  Her  own  heart,  touched  already  when 
she  knew  it  not,  was  this  time  fain  to  listen,  be  convinced,  and 
overcome.  But  here  began  the  tug  of  war  ! As  a filial  daughter, 
Elizabeth  told  her  father  of  the  poet’s  love,  of  the  poet’s  love  in 
return,  and  asked  a parent’s  blessing  to  crown  their  happiness. 
At  first,  incredulous  of  the  strange  story,  he  mocked  her;  but 
when  the  truth  flashed  on  him,  from  the  new  fire  in  her  eyes,  he 
kindled  with  rage,  and  forbade  her  ever  seeing  or  communicating 
with  her  lover  again,  on  the  penalty  of  disinheritance  and  banish- 
ment forever  from  a father’s  love.  This  decision  was  founded  on 
no  dislike  for  Mr.  Browning  personally,  or  anything  in  him,  or 
his  family;  it  was  simply  arbitrary.  But  the  new  love  was 
stronger  than  the  old  in  her — it  conquered.  On  wings  it  flew  to 
her  beloved,  who  had  perched  on  her  window,  and  thence  bore 
her  away  from  the  fogs  of  England  to  a nest  under  Italian  skies.” 

While  in  Italy  Mrs.  Kinney  published  a romance  in 
verse  entitled  “Eelicita,”  and  since  her  return  to  America 
she  has  published  two  volumes  of  poems,  besides  numerous 
contributions  of  prose  and  poetry  to  leading  papers  and 
periodicals.  Her  son  the  poet  and  critic  understands  bet- 
ter than  any  other  person  the  literary  gifts  of  his  mother. 
In  the  collective  edition  of  Edmund  Clarence  Stedman's 
poetical  works  published  by  Houghton,  Mifflin  & Company, 
in  1883,  the  following  filial  tribute  appears  : 

THIS  COLLECTION 

IS  AFFECTIONATELY  AND  REVERENTLY 

DEDICATED  v 

TO  MY  MOTHER, 

IN  GRATITUDE  FOR  WHATSOEVER  I INHERIT 
OF  HER  OWN  SWEET 

GIFT  OF  SONG. 


530 


EDMUND  CLAKENCE  STEDMAN. 


EDMUND  CLARENCE  STEDMAN. 

The  Poet  as  a lad — Related  to  Distinguished  Authors — 
Famous  Yale  Class  of  ’53 — Seeks  his  Fortune  in  New 
York — Wakes  up  to  find  himself  Famous — Old  Janu- 
ary and  Young  May — Challenged  to  Fight  a Duel — 
Romantic  ending  of  Diamond  Wedding — Ballad  of 
Lager  Biei — How  old  Brown  took  Harper's  Ferry — 
First  meets  Bayard  Taylor  and  Stoddard — Wall 
Street's  place  in  Poetry — New  Literary  Enterprise. 

]\/r ORE  than  forty  years  ago  I had  the  pleasure  of  meet- 
ing  for  the  first  time,  Edmund  Clarence  Stedman, 
then  but  a lad  of  about  seven  years.  He  was  on  the  occa- 
sion referred  to  in  charge  of  his  young  widowed  mother, 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  C.  Stedman,  who,  with  her  son,  was  visit- 
ing some  friends  in  the  then  village  of  Auburn.  The  em- 
bryo poet  was  at  that  time  too  young  to  “ lisp  in  numbers, ” 
but  his  mother  was  already  known  among  her  friends  as  a 
clever  writer  of  verses.  Since  that  time,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  she  has  become  well  and  favorably  known  in  literary 
circles. 

Twenty  years  later,  in  1860,  young  Stedman  had  begun 
to  make  his  mark  in  literature,  and  now,  a quarter  of  a cen- 
tury later  still,  he  stands  as  is  well-known  in  the  front  rank 
of  American  men  of  letters. 

Besides  being  the  son  of  a poet,  Mr.  Stedman  is  a 
great-grandson  of  Rev.  Aaron  Cleveland,  the  New  England 
divine  and  poet,  and  thus  related  to  T.  W.  Higginson,  W. 
E.  Channing,  Bishop  Arthur  Cleveland  Coxe,  and  Grover 
Cleveland,  Governor  of  New  York,  all  of  them  distin- 
guished writers  of  prose  and  poetry,  or  eminent  in  public 
life. 

Young  Stedman  entered  Yale  College  in  1849,  and 
was  a member  of  the  famous  class  of  1853.  Among  his  class- 


EDMUND  CLAEENCE  STEDMAN. 


531 


mates  were  President  Andrew  D.  White,  of  Cornell  Univer- 
sity, Hon.  Wayne  McVeigh,  late  U.  S.  Attorney-General, 
George  W.  Smalley,  the  well-known  London  correspondent 
of  the  New  York  Tribune , of  whom  Mr.  Stedman  speaks 
as  a superb  Greek  scholar,  Professor  Charlton  T.  Lewis, 
editor  of  Andrew's  Latin  Lexicon,  Hon.  Randall  L.  Gibson, 
at  present  IT.  S.  Senator  from  Louisiana,  Isaac  H.  Bromley, 
late  editor  of  the  New  York  Commercial  Advertiser,  the 
late  Delano  A.  Goddard,  former  editor  of  the  Boston  Daily 
Advertiser,  and  the  late  Benjamin  K.  Phelps,  who  was 
District  Attorney  for  New  York  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

Young  Stedman  began  his  newspaper  life  at  Norwich, 
Conn.,  as  early  as  1852.  He  afterwards  became  editor  of  the 
Herald,  at  Winsted,  Connecticut,  in  which  paper  he  fre- 
quently reviewed  the  publications  of  my  firm,  which  were 
sent  to  him  for  that  purpose.  Removing  to  New  York  in 
1855,  he  became  a member  of  the  staff  of  the  New  York 
Tribune  in  1859 — afterwards  joining  the  editorial  staff  of 
the  New  York  World,  and  becoming  its  war  correspondent 
from  1861  to  1863.  His  description  in  that  paper  of  the 
battle  of  Bull  Run,  was  considered,  at  the  time,  the  most 
graphic  account  given  of  that  disastrous  route  of  the 
Union  army. 

During  the  last  quarter  of  a century  Mr.  Stedman  has 
contributed  to  Vanity  Fair,  Putnam's,  Harper’s,  Scribner's 
and  the  Atlantic  Monthlies.  He  has  also  contributed 
articles  to  the  New  York  Independent  and  North  American 
Review,  all  of  them  poems  or  interesting  literary  essays. 

When  Mr.  Stedman  first  arrived  in  New  York  he  was 
determined  to  devote  himself  to  a literary  life.  He  had 
set  a high  standard  at  that  time,  which  he  determined  to 
reach,  and  events  have  proved  that  he  has  succeeded  very 
well  in  the  object  of  his  ambition. 

For  several  years  he  struggled  for  the  support  of  him- 
self, young  wife,  and  infant  child,  managing,  however,  by 
journalistic  work  to  pay  his  living  expenses  until  the  year 
1859,  when  he  awoke  one  morning  to  find  himself  famous 


532 


EDMUND  CLARENCE  STEDMANV 


as  the  author  of  the  “ Diamond  Wedding, ” a poem  which 
he  contributed  to  the  New  York  Tribune. 

This  famous  poem  he  hastily  wrote  as  a jeu  d’esprit 
without  thinking  of  haying  it  published.  A friend  of  his, 
E.  F.  Underhill,  at  that  time  a reporter  of  the  Tribune , 
took  it  to  Isaac  W.  England,  then  city  editor,  but  now 
the  well  known  publisher  of  the  New  York  Sun.  The  next 
day  our  poet  was  surprised  to  see  on  the  news  bulletins 
“head  Stedmaiffs  Great  Poem,  ‘The  Diamond  Wedding 9 
in  this  evening’s  paper  ! " The  poem  was  republished  in  the 
different  city  papers,  and  ran  through  all  the  editions  4of 
the  Tribune  over  and  over  again.  His  friend,  Underhill, 
headed  the  poem  “ written  expressly  for  the  Tribune” 
when,  of  course,  it  was  not.  The  poet  looked  upon  it  as  a 
good  joke  at  the  time,  as  he  considered  it  an  inferior  order 
of  poetry,  nothing  more  than  a bright  piece  of  society  verse. 
It  was  copied  throughout  America  and  Europe,  and  re- 
published in  book-form  by  G.  W.  Carleton  & Co. 

One  cause  of  the  great  popularity  of  this  poem  was  the 
extraordinary  marriage  of  the  rich  Cuban  Oviedo  to  the 
beautiful  Miss  Bartlett.  The  father  of  the  latter,  who  was 
at  that  time  a lieutenant  in  the  United  States  Navy,  became 
very  angry  about  the  poem,  because  of  the  sensation  it  cre- 
ated in  the  fashionable  world.  He  challenged  Stedman  to 
fight  a duel,  which  the  latter  promptly  accepted.  Lieuten- 
ant Bartlett,  however,  finally  backed  out,  saying  that  he 
had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  Stedman’s  family  was  not 
equal  to  his  in  the  social  world.  The  following  extracts 
from  the  “Diamond  Wedding"  will  indicate  the  nature 
of  the  poem  : 

******** 

“But  now,  True  Love,  you’re  growing  old — 

Bought  and  sold,  with  silver  and  gold, 

Like  a house,  or  a horse  and  carriage ! 

Midnight  talks, 

Moonlight  walks; 

The  glance  of  the  eye  and  sweetheart  sigh 
The  shadowy  haunts  with  no  one  by, 


S 


EDMUND  CLARENCE  STEDMAN. 


533 


I do  not  wish  to  disparage ; 

But  every  kiss 

Has  a price  for  its  bliss, 

In  the  modern  code  of  marriage; 

And  the  compact  sweet 
Is  not  complete, 

Till  the  high  contracting  parties  meet 
Before  the  altar  of  Mammon; 

And  the  bride  must  be  led  to  a silver  bower, 
Where  pearls  and  rubies  fall  in  a shower 
That  would  frighten  Jupiter  Ammon! 

“ I need  not  tell 
How  it  befell 

(Since  Jenkins  has  told  the  story 
Over  and  over  again, 

In  a style  I cannot  hope  to  attain 
And  covered  himself  with  glory !) 

How  it  befell,  one  Summer's  day, 

The  King  of  the  Cubans  strolied  this  way, — 

King  January’s  his  name,  they  say, 

And  fell  in  love  with  the  Princess  May. 

The  reigning  belle  of  Manhattan; 

Nor  how  he  began  to  smirk  and  sue, 

And  dress  as  lovers  who  come  to  wtoo, 

Or  as  Max  Maretzek  and  Jullien  do, 

When  they  sit,  full-bloomed,  in  the  ladies’  view, 
And  flourish  the  wondrous  baton. 

******** 

“ She  stood  such  a fire  of  silks  and  laces, 

Jewels,  and  golden  dressing  cases, 

And  ruby  brooches,  and  jets  and  pearls, 

That  every  one  of  her  dainty  curls 

Brought  the  price  of  a hundred  common  girls  ; 

Folks  thought  the  lass  demented  ! 

But  at  last,  a wonderful  diamond  ring, 

An  infant  Koh-i-noor,  did  the  thing, 

And,  sighing  with  love,  or  something  the  same, 
(What’s  in  a name  !) 

The  Princess  May  consented.” 


534 


EDMUND  CLAKENCE  STEDMAN. 


It  is  both  curious  and  interesting  to  note  here  the  hap- 
penings of  a quarter  of  a century  later.  Mrs.  Oviedo,  who 
had  become  a widow,  expressed  a desire,  when  recently  in 
New  York,  through  a mutual  friend,  to  meet  the  author  of 
the  “ Diamond  Wedding.”  The  poet  responded  to  the  lady's 
wish,  called  and  found  her  to  be  a very  interesting  and 
beautiful  woman.  She  told  the  author  that  she  had  always 
read  everything  written  by  him,  and  had  made  up  her  mind 
that  he  would  learn  some  time  that  she  was  not  so  foolish 
a woman  as  she  had  been  when  a girl. 

(Many  of  my  readers  will  remember  that  the  latter  was 
a bride  when  scarcely  out  of  her  teens,  while  the  Cuban 
bridegroom  was  both  very  old  and  very  rich.  The  mar- 
riage was  arranged  by  her  parents,  as  such  important  events 
often  are.)  Mr.  Stedman  also  found  her  to  be  a highly 
cultivated  and  intelligent  lady,  very  fond  of  poetry  and  a 
good  writer  herself.  Indeed  she  has  contributed  recently 
to  the  Manhattan  Magazine,  and  by  a singular  coincidence 
the  same  number  contained  a poem  by  the  author  of  the 
li  Diamond  Wedding.”  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stedman  and  Mrs. 
Oviedo  became  very  good  friends.  They  afterwards  gave 
her  a complimentary  dinner  at  their  residence  in  Fifty- 
fourth  street,  where  among  a distinguished  assemblage 
she  was  the  attraction  of  the  evening.  It  seemed  very 
strange  to  the  poet  to  be  sitting,  twenty  years  later,  by  the 
.side  of  the  bride  of  the  “ Diamond  Wedding.”  Since  the 
occurrence  above  referred  to,  Mrs.  Oviedo,  who  had  been  a 
widow  for  a number  of  years,  has  married  Baron  Yon 
Glumer,  an  officer  in  the  Mexican  Army,  residing  in  Mexico, 
and  is  contented  and  happy  in  her  new  marriage  relations. 

Another  strange  circumstance  connected  with  this  cele- 
brated marriage  was  the  fact  that  Lieutenant  Bartlett  met 
his  death  indirectly  through  a friendly  action  of  Stedman. 
The  former  went  to  Washington  during  the  war  with  letters 
to  various  officials,  and  also  bore  one  to  Stedman  (who  was 
at  that  time  in  confidential  relations  with  the  government), 
and  said  to  him,  “ during  public  calamities  private  enmity 


EDMUND  CLARENCE  STEDMAN*. 


535 


should  cease.”  He  wanted  to  get  authority  from  the  Navy 
Department,  to  raise  a thousand  men  as  mariners,  to  get 
up  a naval  brigade  for  use  in  the  Union  Army.  Stedman 
introduced  him  to  Secretary  Cameron  and  Secretary  Welles, 
who  were  at  that  time  respective  heads  of  the  War  and 
Navy  Departments.  He  was  given  by  them  full  authority 
to  raise  a number  of  troops  and  start  a Naval  Brigade.  He 
was  put  in  charge  of  the  Rip  Raps  at  Fortress  Monroe,  and 
one  day,  while  walking  on  the  battlements,  he  fell  olf  and 
was  killed. 

Mr.  Stedman’s  next  hit  was  the  amusing  et  Ballad  of 
Lager  Bier. ” That,  together  with  another  ballad  “ How 
old  Brown  took  Harper’s  Ferry,”  were  published  in  book 
form  by  Scribner  under  the  title  of  “ The  Tribune  Lyrics.” 
The  ballad  of  “ Old  Brown”  was  published  while  the  trial 
of  the  latter  was  going  on,  and  attracted  wide  attention. 
Mrs.  Browning  wrote  the  author  from  Italy  a very  compli- 
mentary letter  about  it,  and  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  has 
paid  it  the  compliment  of  incorporating  it  in  his  “ Parnas- 
sus.” It  was  really  the  first  ballad  that  Stedman  ever 
wrote,  and  was  the  indirect  cause  of  the  beginning  of  a 
lasting  friendship  with  Bayard  Taylor.  The  latter,  at  the 
time  it  was  published  in  the  Tribune , was  lecturing  in  the 
West,  and  on  several  occasions  read  the  ballad  to  his  audi- 
ences. When  Bayard  Taylor  returned  to  New  York  the 
two  poets  met  for  the  first  time.  Stedman  soon  asked  him 
about  Stoddard,  the  poet,  whom  he  always  wanted  to  know. 
The  next  day  Taylor  introduced  him  to  the  latter  and  the 
two  poets  became  intimate  friends  ever  after. 

The  death  of  Bayard  Taylor  was  a great  blow  to  his 
brother  poets,  and  both  Mr.  Stedman  and  Mr.  Stoddard 
have  in  prose  and  poetry  rendered  affectionate  tributes  to 
the  memory  of  their  friend,  the  distinguished  poet,  traveler 
and  diplomat,  whose  death  created  a vacancy  in  American 
literature  which  has  never  been  filled. 

About  this  time  Stedman  was  appointed  a reporter 
on  the  New  York  Tribune}  of  which  Charles  A.  Dana  was 


536 


EDMUND  CLARENCE  STEDMAN. 


then  the  managing  editor,  at  a salary  of  eighteen  dollars  a 
week.  . His  first  report  for  that  paper  was  the  interesting 
account  of  the  death  of  Washington  Irving.  The  first  and 
only  time  the  poet  saw  that  noted  author,  was  in  his  coffin. 

A few  years  later,  Mr.  Stedman  gave  up  journalism 
altogether,  in  order  to  devote  himself  to  literature.  He 
studied  very  hard  and  wrote  a good  deal,  but  it  was  not  at 
that  time  remumerative.  He  had  saved  a thousand  dollars 
with  which  to  begin  operations  in  Wall  Street,  where  he 
operated  and  became  a popular  and  successful  banker. 
Out  of  the  one  thousand  dollars  invested  he  soon  made 
from  ten  to  twelve  thousand  dollars.  Mr.  Stedman  has 
often  been  criticised  for  being  in  Wall  Street.  He  has 
been  there  solely  for  the  purpose  of  having  Sundays  and 
evenings  and  summer  vacations  for  poetry  and  critical 
literary  work,  whicli  time  he  has  studiously  utilized. 

Wall  Street  has  enabled  him  to  accomplish  this  desire. 
Mr.  Stedman  has  never  lost  any  money  in  his  Wall  Street 
operations,  although  a heavy  sufferer  by  forgery  and  fraud 
in  that  locality. 

Professor  David  Swing,  of  Chicago,  at  one  time  criti- 
cised Mr.  Stedman  very  severely  for  his  connection  with 
Wall  Street.  The  latter  wrote  him  a letter  explaining  his 
position,  when  that  distinguished  preacher  promptly  re- 
plied, apologizing  for  what  he  had  said. 

Although  Mr.  Stedman  is  a member  of  the  Stock  Ex- 
change, he  has  never  tried  to  be  a large  operator  ; all  he  de- 
sires is  a sufficient  income  from  that  direction  to  enable 
him  to  carry  out  his  literary  undertakings.  He  has,  how- 
ever, a handsome  annual  income  from  the  copyright  of  his 
works,  which  are  very  popular.  His  “ Victorian  Poets  ” 
show  him  to  be  a master  critic  as  well  as  a born  poet.  He 
has  constant  applications  from  the  magazines  and  leading 
newspapers  for  poems  at  his  own  price.  Only  a few  days 
since  he  furnished  Harper  & Brothers,  at  their  request,  two 
short  poems  for  the  coming  Christmas  number  of  their 
magazine.  When  he  took  them  to  the  publishers  they 


EDMUND  CLARENCE  STEDMAN. 


537 


asked  him  how  much  he  wanted.  “ Well,”  said  Stedman, 
“ I will  be  satisfied  with  fifty  dollars  apiece  for  those  little 
poems.”  The  editor  looked  up  and  said  that  was  very  low; 
that  he  expected  he  would  charge  a great  deal  more  for 
them. 

These  poems  were  written  in  two  evenings,  and  Sted- 
man laughingly  says  he  could  have  supported  his  family  on 
the  amount  received  for  them  for  one  month,  when  strug- 
gling for  a foothold  in  the  world  of  letters  a quarter  of  a 
century  ago. 

Mr.  Stedman  is  now  at  work  on  a new  volume  to  be  en- 
titled ‘ 4 Poetry  in  America,”  covering  a complete  history 
of  poetry  in  this  country,  with  selections  from  the  lead- 
ing poets.  It  is  to  be  a companion  volume  to  his  “ Vic- 
torian Poets,”  which  has  been  received  with  such  great 
favor  by  the  most  eminent  critics  of  this  country  and  Eu- 
rope. 

Another  most  important  literary  enterprise  is  a library 
of  American  literature  from  the  earliest  settlement  to  the 
present  time,  compiled  and  edited  by  Edmund  Clarence 
Stedman  and  Ellen  Mackay  Hutchinson,  in  ten  elegant 
large  octavo  volumes  of  over  five  hundred  pages  each,  illus- 
trated with  portraits  of  distinguished  authors.  A work 
of  this  kind  is  urgently  called  for  by  the  literary  intelligence 
of  the  country,  and  in  the  competent  hands  of  its  accom- 
plished editors,  a work  of  great  value  may  be  expected. 

23* 


XXXIV. 


FREDERICK  S.  COZZENS. 

Pleasant  Memoirs — Irving , Halleck  and  Thackeray — The 
Sparrowgrass  Papers — The  Horse  that  had  the  Heaves 
— Richard  Hayward  and  his  Friends — Irving's 
opinion  of  Sparrowgrass — “It  Drops  from  him  like 
Whisky  ” — Thackeray  at  the  Century  Club — “ The 
Song  that  Martin  Luther  Sang  " — Washington  and 
Astor's  Spectacles — “ Please  give  me  some  Gapes  " — 
Halleck' s opinion  of  Cozzens — “ To  my  big  Sweet- 
heart " — “ But  the  Bitter  keeps  on  and  on." 

A MONG  the  pleasantest  of  the  memories  of  my  inter- 
course  with  authors  are  those  connected  with  the 
late  Frederick  S.  Cozzens.  It  was  through  his  friendly 
attentions  that  I first  became  acquainted  with  Washington 
Irving,  Fitz  Greene  Halleck  and  Thackeray,  with  all  of 
whom  he  was  on  intimate  terms  of  friendship,  and  each  of 
whom  I had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  at  his  business  office, 
or  his  former  residence,  Chestnut  Cottage,  in  Yonkers, 
where  for  years  he  was  a near  neighbor  of  mine. 

In  the  year  1856,  I published  his  famous  “ Sparrow- 
grass  Papers,”  which  became  immensely  popular  among 
the  lovers  of  humorous  literature.  The  volume  was  a col- 
lection of  contributions  to  Putnam’s  Monthly  Magazine , 
depicting  in  an  inimitable  manner  the  experience  of  a 
young  city-bred  couple  in  their  new  home  in  the  country. 

Mr.  Putnam  was  also  a near  neighbor  of  ours  at 
Yonkers,  and  was  very  much  interested  in  the  Sparrow- 
grass  Papers  as  they  appeared  from  time  to  time  in  the 
Magazine.  The  author,  in  one  of  these  contributions 
[588] 


FREDERICK  S.  COZZENS. 


539 


indulged  in  the  pleasure  of  making  fun  of  his  own  pub- 
lisher. On  one  occasion,  in  the  hurry  of  getting  the 
Magazine  through  the  press,  Mr.  Putnam,  who  was  also 
the  editor,  did  not  always  have  the  opportunity  of  reading 
the  material  paragraph  by  paragraph,  as  was  his  wont  to 
do,  and  it  was  not  until  this  particular  number  of  the  Mag- 
azine had  been  before  the  public  for  some  days  that  he 
found  out  it  contained  quite  a good  description  of  his  pub- 
lisher’s residence  in  Yonkers,  including  a very  dramatic 
narrative  of  his  “horse  with  the  heaves,”  and  “ had  them 
bad.” 

Mr.  Cozzens’  first  published  volume  was  a series  of 
sketches  in  prose  and  verse  entitled  “ Prismatics,”  by 
Richard  Haywarde.  It  was  very  handsomely  illustrated 
from  designs  by  his  intimate  artist  friends,  Elliott,  Parley, 
Kensett,  Hicks  and  Rossiter. 

His  second  volume,  the  “ Sparrowgrass  Papers,”  was 
greatly  admired  by  Washington  Irving.  Speaking  of  it  one 
time,  the  latter  said  to  me,  that  he  considered  it  by  far  the 
best  representation  of  the  humorous  side  of  country  life 
which  had  yet  appeared.  Mr.  Irving  also  said,  he  did  not 
believe  my  sensational  style  of  advertising  the  book  would 
aid  in  its  circulation;  a good  book,  he  thought,  would  al- 
ways find  its  way  to  public  favor  without  a needless  display 
of  printer’s  ink.  I afterwards  thought  how  much  money 
could  have  been  saved  by  less  liberal  advertising  of  the 
book,  if  what  the  creator  of  Rip  Van  Winkle  believed  to  be 
true,  was  true. 

Mr.  Cozzens  often  talked  about  Irving,  to  whom  he  was 
much  attached.  He  once  said,  that  when  Irving  was  intro- 
duced to  D.  Cogswell,  the  first  superintendent  of  the  Astor 
library,  at  J.  J.  Astor’s  table,  after  dinner  the  latter  asked 
him,  “ What  do  you  think  of  Cogswell  ? He  is  very  full,  is 
he  not  ?”  (of  information).  “ Yes,”  replied  Irving,  “but 
it  drops  from  him  like  whisky  from  a private  still.” 

Mr.  Cozzens  once  asked  William  Cullen  Bryant  about 
Irving’s  altering  the  copy,  when  arranging  for  the  publica- 


540 


FREDERICK  S.  COZZENS. 


tion  of  the  former’s  poems  in  England.  Mr.  Bryant  said 
that  he  only  altered  the  lines, 

“ The  British  soldier  trembles, 

When  Marion’s  name  is  told,” 
to 

“ The  foeman  trembles  in  his  camp, 

When  Marion’s  name  is  told.” 

The  reason  for  making  this  change  was  the  repugnance  of 
the  British  publisher  to  printing  any  lines  reflecting  on  a 
British  soldier. 

The  first  time  I met  Thackeray  was  at  the  Century 
Club,  of  which  association  Mr.  Cozzens  was  one  of  the  earli- 
est and  most  esteemed  members.  I was  introduced  by  the 
latter  to  the  great  novelist  as  his  neighbor,  publisher  and 
the  banker  of  his  copyright  money,  when  Thackeray  said, 
“the  amount  thus  received,  with  the  publisher’s  profits, 
would  make  both  of  you  rich.” 

The  club  house  was  at  that  time  located  in  Clinton 
Place,  and  was  a favorite  resort  of  Thackeray  while  in  New 
York.  He  was  the  centre  of  an  admiring  group  of  authors, 
artists  and  men  of  literary  tastes.  He  often  favored  those 
present  by  singing  some  of  his  favorite  songs.  The  following 
was  one  of  them.* 

“ Doctor  Luther — A cool,  green  glass  with  a long  necked 
flask  of  Rudesheimer,  or  a round-shouldered  bocksbeutel  of  Stein 
to  ‘Doctor  Luther.’  There  are  two  translations  of  that  famous 
Rhine  song;  the  first  from  of  Pynnshurst;  the  last  was  given  me 
by  Mr.  Thackeray,  just  before  he  left  us  disconsolate.  Neither 
have  appeared  in  print  until  now,  and  why  should  they?  Among 
the  legends  of  old  wine,  and  good  wine,  in  good  company  only, 
should  Dr.  Luther  be  said  or  sung. 

For  the  soul’s  edification 

And  this  decent  congregation, 

Worthy  people!  by  your  grant, 

I will  sing  a holy  chant,  (bis) 


* From  Cozzens’  “Wine  Press.” 


FREDERICK  S.  COZZENS. 


541 


If  the  ditty  sound  but  oddly, 

’Twas  as  a Father,  wise  and  godly, 

Sang  it  so,  long  ago. 

Then  sing  as  Dr.  Luther  sang,  as  Dr.  Luther  sang, 

“ Who  loves  notwine,  women,  and  song, 

He  is  a fool  his  whole  life  long.” 

He,  by  usage  patriarchal, 

Loved  to  see  the  beaker  sparkle, 

And  he  thought  the  wine  improved, 

Tasted  by  the  lips  he  loved,  (bis) 

Friends!  I wish  this  custom  pious 
Daily  were  adopted  by  us, 

To  combine  love,  song,  wine. 

And  sing  as  Dr.  Luther  sang,  as  Dr.  Luther  sang, 

Who  loves  not  wine,  women  and  song, 

He  is  a fool  his  whole  life  long. 

Who  refuses  this  our  credo, 

And  demurs  to  sing  as  we  do ; 

Were  he  holy  as  John  Knox, 

I’d  pronounce  him  heterodox;  (bis) 

And  from  out  this  congregation, 

With  a pious  commination, 

Banish  quick  the  heretic. 

Who  will  not  sing  as  Luther  sang,  as  the 
Reverend  Doctor  Luther  sang, 

Who  loves  not  wine,  women,  and  song, 

He  is  a fool  his  whole  life  long. 

Mr.  Cozzens  said,  on  one  occasion,  in  December,  1855, 
he  visited  Sunny  Side  in  company  with  Thackeray.  The 
day  was  inexpressibly  balmy  and  beautiful  as  they  rode 
along  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  Thackeray  would  say: 
“This  is  very  jolly,  how  jolly,  how  jolly!”  as  view  after 
view  appeared.  They  found  Irving  in  fine  spirits.  Thack- 
eray said,  after  looking  round  the  room,  “ I must  make 
some  notes  of  the  furniture  and  other  things  I see  about 
me  in  this  room,  so  that  when  I write  my  book  on  America, 
I shall  be  able  to  put  it  all  in.”  “Ah  !”  said  Irving,  catch- 


542 


FREDERICK  S.  COZZENS. 


ing  the  joke,  “you  must  not  forget  my  nieces,”  introduc- 
ing them  again  with  mock  courtesy,  saying  : “ This  is  the 
one  who  writes  for  me  ; all  my  stories  are  from  her  pen. 
This  young  lady  is  the  poet  of  the  family;  she  has  a collec- 
tion of  sonnets  that  will  astonish  the  world  some  day. 
Another  niece  of  mine  is  up-stairs,  she  is  the  musician  and 
painter,  a great  genius,  only  she  has  never  come  out. 
Here  is  a pair  of  spectacles  that  belonged  to  General  Wash- 
ington, and  here  is  another  pair  that  belonged  to  John 
Jacob  Astor.  I thought  with  Washington's  and  Astor’s 
spectacles,  I might  be  able  to  see  my  way  pretty  clearly 
through  the  world.” 

The  morning  after  Thackeray  lectured  on  “ Wit  and 
Humor,”  while  a guest  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Cozzens, 
during  breakfast,  a little  three-year-old  daughter  of  the 
latter  asked  Thackeray  to  “ please  give  me  some  gapes.”  He 
said  to  her,  “ If  you  had  been  at  my  lecture  last  night  you 
would  have  had  all  the  ‘ gapes  ' you  wanted.” 

Fitz  Greene  Halleck,  in  a letter  to  General  James 
Grant  Wilson,  who  was  afterwards  the  poet's  biographer, 
said  : 


‘‘Allow  me  to  beg  you  to  read  Mr.  F.  S.  Cozzens’ recently 
published  volume,  ‘ The  Sayings  of  Dr.  Bushwhacker,”  etc.,  where 
you  will  see  and  hear  the  Doctor  (assuming  that  you  have  known 
him  more  or  less  intimately),  alive  and  speaking  before  you.  The 
‘Faculty  Divine,-'  the  power  of  invention,  the  wit,  the  wisdom, 
the  stories  of  miscellaneous  literature,  the  doctor  did  not  possess. 
Your  admiration  of  all  these  belongs  to  Mr.  Cozzens,  but  the  doc- 
tor dramatically  represents  them  to  your  perfect  delight.  I have 
long  more  than  fancied,  I have  felt  that  Mr.  Cozzens,  in  that 
department  of  genius  to  which  Mr.  Irving’s  “ Knickerbocker” — a 
work  superior  in  my  estimation  to  the  “ Sketch-Book”  belongs,  is 
the  best  or  among  the  best  writers  of  our  time  in  any  language. 
Analyze  his  lines  closely  and  critically,  and  I have  little  doubt  of 
your  concurrence  in  my  belief.” 

One  day  Mr.  Halleck  in  talking  with  Cozzens  about 
Joseph  Rodman  Drake  said,  that  after  the  latter's  proposal 


FREDERICK  S.  COZZENS. 


543 


to  make  a poetical  firm,  many  of  the  croakers  were  writ- 
ten in  this  wise  : he  or  Drake  would  furnish  a draft  of  a 
poem,  and  that  one  or  the  other  would  suggest  any  alter- 
ations or  enlargements  of  the  idea,  a closer  clipping  of  the 
wings  of  fancy  ; a little  epigrammatic  spar  upon  the  heel 
of  a line. 

Mr.  Cozzens  afterwards  said,  “ I doubt  very  much 
whether  I have  a right  to  disclose  the  methods  by  which 
poets  work  in  their  workshops,  but  as  I am  only  repeating 
Halleck’s  ideas,  I hold  it  to  be  no  base  betrayal  of  the 
craft.  To  show  how  delightful  these  joint  labors  were  to 
both  of  these  illustrious  men,  Halleck  told  me  that,  upon 
one  occasion,  Drake,  after  writing  some  stanzas  and  get- 
ting the  proof  from  the  printer,  laid  his  check  down  upon 
the  lines  he  had  written,  and,  looking  at  his  fellow  poet 
with  beaming  eyes  said,  ‘ Oh,  Halleck,  isn’t  this  happi- 
ness ! ’ ” 

Mv  firm  next  published  another  volume  by  Mr.  Cozzens 
entitled  “Arcadia  ; or,  a Sojourn  among  the  Blue  Noses.” 
A charming  account  of  a summer  residence  in  Nova  Scotia. 

His  last  literary  effort  was  a memorial  of  Fitz  Greene 
Halleck,  which  was  delivered  before  and  printed  by  the 
New  York  Historical  Society  a short  time  previous  to  his 
death. 

The  following  is  from  the  beautiful  chapter,  “A  Leaf 
from  Child  Life,”  in  the  Sparrowgrass  Papers  : 

“ We  begin  to  think  our  eldest  is  nourishing  a secret  passion, 
under  his  bell  buttons.  He  has  been  seen  brushing  his  hair  more 
than  once  lately;  and  not  long  since,  the  two  youngest  came  home 
from  school,  crying,  without  him.  Upon  investigation  we  found 
our  eldest  had  gone  off  with  a school-girl  twice  his  size;  and  when 
he  returned  he  said  he  had  only  gone  home  with  her  because  she 
promised  to  put  some  bay  rum  on  his  hair.  He  has  even  had  the 
audacity  to  ask  me  to  write  a piece  of  poetry  about  her,  and  of 
course  I complied. 


544 


FREDERICK  S.  COZZENS. 


“TO  MY  BIG  SWEETHEART. 

“ My  love  has  long  brown  curls. 

And  blue  forget-me-not  eyes; 

She’s  the  beauty  of  all  the  girls — 

But  I wish  I was  twice  my  size; 

Then  I could  kiss  her  cheek, 

Or  venture  her  lips  to  taste: 

But  now  I only  reach  to  the  ribbon, 

She  ties  around  her  waist. 

“Chocolate-drop  of  my  heart 
I dare  not  breathe  thy  name: 

Like  a peppermint  stick  I stand  apart 
In  a sweet  but  secret  flame. 

When  you  look  down  on  me, 

And  the  tassel  atop  of  my  cap 
I feel  as  if  something  had  got  in  my  throat 
And  was  choking  against  the  strap. 

“ I passed  your  garden,  and  there 
On  the  clothes  line  hung  a few 
Pantalettes,  and  one  tall  pair 
Reminded  me,  love,  of  you; 

And  I thought,  as  I swung  on  the  gate, 

In  the  cold  by  myself  alone, 

How  soon  the  sweetness  of  hoarhound  dies, 

But  the  bitter  keeps  on  and  on. 

“It  was  quite  touching  to  see  how  solemnly  the  old  soldiers  lis- 
tened, when  this  was  being  read  to  them;  and  when  I came  to  the 
lines 

“ I feel  as  if  something  had  got  in  my  throat, 

And  was  choking  against  the  strap,” 

Ivanhoe  looked  up  with  questioning  eyes  as  if  he  would  have 
said,  ‘How  did  you  know  that  ? ’ ” 


XXXV. 

ELIZABETH  OAKES  SMITH. 

Literary  Celebrities  Forty  Years  Ago — “ The  Sinless  Child n 
— Charles  Fenno  Hoffman — Edgar  Allan  Poe's  Crit- 
icisms— “ Gentle  she  was  and  fall  of  Love  ” — Poe 
Talks  about  the  “ Paven  ” — A Love-letter  to  the  Poet 
— Mrs.  Smith  as  an  Author — Tribute  from  George  D. 
Prentice. 

TN  the  brilliant  coterie  of  men  and  women  who  graced  the 
literary  circles  of  New  York  forty  years  ago,  none 
excelled  in  intellectual  capacity  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

Elizabeth  Oakes  Smith  began  to  write  verses  when  a 
mere  child,  and  now,  at  an  advanced  age,  her  contributions 
to  the  literary  journals  and  magazines  of  the  day  are  full  of 
the  grace  and  beauty  that  marked  her  earlier  efforts. 

Her  first  literary  success  was  a poem  originally  contri- 
buted to  the  Southern  Literary  Messenger , entitled,  “ The 
Sinless  Child,”  which,  with  other  of  her  poems,  was  subse- 
quently collected  and  issued  in  one  volume,  edited  by  John 
Keese,  a name  well  known  among  the  litterati  of  New  York. 

The  late  Charles  Fenno  Hoffman  was  a great  admirer 
of  the  poem  referred  to.  He  once  said  of  it:  “Mr. 
Keese  certainly  deserves  well  of  the  republic  of  letters  for 
bringing  out  this  singularly  beautiful  poem  in  its  present 
dress.  His  frank  and  manly  preface,  with  the  interesting 
accompaniment  of  John  Neal’s  biographical  sketch  and 
Tuckerman’s  analysis  of  the  genius  of  the  author,  awakened 

[545] 


546 


ELIZABETH  OAKES  SMITH. 


in  us  a strong  and  lively  expectation  as  to  wtiat  was  to  fol- 
low ; and  so  perfect  and  pleasurable  is  the  realization  of 
both  interest  and  expectation  that  we  are  half-disposed  to 
cry  ‘ Eureka  P and  declare  that  The  American  Poem  has 
at  length  been  produced  by  our  fair  countrywoman.” 

When  Edgar  Allan  Poe  published  his  sketches  of  the 
litterati  of  New  York  City,  in  1846,  he  placed  Mrs.  Smith 
in  the  front  rank  among  the  poets  of  this  country.  He 
thus  closes  the  lengthy  critical  review  which  he  gives  to  the 
author  of  “ The  Sinless  Child.” 

“We  proceed  to  cull  from  the  poem  a few  brief  but 
happy  passages  at  random  : 

“ Gentle  she  was  and  full  of  love, 

With  voice  exceeding  sweet, 

And  eyes  of  dove-like  tenderness, 

Where  joy  and  sadness  meet. 

* * * * 

“ And  wheresoe’er  the  weary  heart 
Turns  in  its  dim  despair, 

The  meek-eyed  blossom  upward  looks, 

Inviting  it  to  prayer. 

* * * * 

“ The  very  winds  were  hushed  to  peace 
Within  the  quiet  dell, 

Or  murmured  through  the  rustling  bough 
Like  breathings  of  a shell.” 

•J*  ^ ^ ^ 

“ Bright  missals  from  angelic  throngs 
In  every  by-way  left — 

Ilow  were  the  earth  of  glory  shorn 
Were  it  of  flowers  bereft  !” 

With  the  above  quotations  of  these  really  noble  pass- 
ages— noble,  because  full  of  the  truest  poetic  energy — we 
take  leave  of  the  fair  authoress.  She  is  entitled,  beyond 


ELIZABETH  OAKES  SMITH. 


547 


doubt,  to  all,  and  perhaps  more,  than  the  commendation 
she  received.  Her  faults  are  among  the  peccadilloes,  and 
her  merits  among  the  sterling  excellencies  of  the  muse/’ 

Edgar  Allan  Poe  was  often  the  guest  at  the  home  of  Mrs. 
Oakes  Smith.  Talking  with  her  one  day  about  the  poet 
she  said  : “I  first  met  him  when  I was  living  in  Brooklyn. 
He  called  on  me  with  his  child-wife,  who  was  very  pretty, 
she  had  eyes  just  like  a fawn.  She  was  but  sixteen  years  old 
when  she  married,  and  talked  very  little  indeed,  but  had 
the  greatest  admiration  for  her  husband’s  genius,  and  fairly 
worshipped  him.  When  I last  saw  her,  she  said  : 4 1 
know  I shall  die  soon  ; I know  I can’t  get  well ; but  I want 
to  be  as  happy  as  possible,  and  make  Edgar  happy.” 

“ Mr.  Poe  called  on  me  a great  many  times,  and  was 
always  the  gentleman.  His  conversation  without  being 
fluent  was  ready  and  pointed ; he  could  turn  a compliment 
almost  as  elegantly  as  N.  P.  Willis.  Oftentimes,  Poe 
would  converse  with  me  upon  literature,  metaphysics, 
poetry,  and  everything  in  that  direction,  but  he  never  talked 
about  his  immediate  surroundings.  When  he  was  talking 
and  interested  he  had  that  far-away  look  which  was  so  usual 
with  him.” 

“The  Raven  was  first  published  in  the  New  York  Re - 
view.  I had  not  yet  seen  it,  when  one  evening  Charles 
Fenno  Hoffman  called  with  the  Review , and  read  it  to  me. 
He  was  a fine  reader,  and  read  the  poem  with  great  feeling. 
His  reading  affected  me  so  much  I arose  and  walked  the 
floor,  and  said  to  him,  “It  is  Edgar  Poe  himself.”  He  had 
not  told  me  who  the  author  was;  indeed,  it  was  published 
anonymously.  “Well,”  said  I,  “every  production  of 
genius  has  an  internal  life  as  well  as  its  external.  Now, 
how  do  you  interpret  this,  Mr.  Hoffman?”  The  latter,  who 
had  had  many  disappointments  and  griefs  in  life,  replied, 
“ It  is  despair  brooding  over  wisdom.” 

The  next  evening  who  should  call  but  Mr.  Poe.  I told 
him  what  Mr.  Hoffman  had  said.  Poe  folded  his  arms  and 
looked  down,  saying,  “ That  is  a recognition.”  Soon  the 


548 


ELIZABETH  OAKES  SMITH. 


Raven  became  known  everywhere,  and  everyone  was  saying 
“ Nevermore/’ 

“ One  afternoon  Poe  called  on  me  and  said,  “I  find  my 
Raven  is  really  being  talked  about  a great  deal.  I was  at 
the  theatre  last  night,  and  the  actor  interpolated  the  word 
‘Nevermore,’  and  it  did  add  force  to  the  sentiment  that 
was  given,  and  the  audience  immediately  (he  looked  so 
pleased  when  he  said  this),  evidently  took  the  allusion.” 

“ One  day  he  said  to  me,  as  he  rolled  up  some  of  his  MS., 
‘ Sometimes  I think  that  all  my  success  is  due  to  my  good 
penmanship,  my  writing  with  such  care,  finishing  my 
paragraphs,  and  the  care  I take  of  my  manuscript/  which 
was  really  equal  to  copper-plate.” 

“A  certain  lady  of  my  acquaintance  fell  in  love  with  Poe 
and  wrote  a love-letter  to  him.  Every  letter  he  received 
he  showed  to  his  little  wife.  This  lady  went  to  his  house 
one  day ; she  heard  Fanny  Osgood  and  Mrs.  Poe  having  a 
hearty  laugh,  they  were  fairly  shouting,  as  they  read  over 
a letter.  The  lady  listened,  and  found  it  was  hers,  when 
she  walked  into  the  room  and  snatched  it  from  their  hands. 
There  would  have  been  a scene  with  any  other  woman,  but 
they  were  both  very  sweet  and  gentle,  and  there  the  matter 
ended.” 

I first  became  Mrs.  Oakes  Smith’s  publisher  in  1854. 
My  very  first  publication  after  my  arrival  in  the  City  of 
New  York,  was  her  romance  entitled  “Bertha  and  Lily, 
or  The  Parsonage  of  Beach  Glen,”  the  MS.  of  which  was 
strongly  recommended  to  me  by  the  late  George  Ripley, 
who  was  a great  admirer  of  the  intellectual  qualities  of 
the  writer.  I remember  on  one  occasion,  shortly  after  the 
publication  of  this  book,  at  a social  gathering,  at  the  house 
of  the  authoress,  Mr.  Ripley  gave  the  following  toast  in 
honor  of  this,  my  first  publication  in  New  York:  “In  the 
stakes  may  the  Derby  win.” 

The  New  York  Christian  Enquirer , which  was  consid- 
ered good  literary  authority  in  those  days,  in  a review 
of  “ Bertha  and  Lily,”  said  : 


ELIZABETH  OAKES  SMITH. 


549 


“ This  book  is  certainly  one  of  true  genius.  As  might  be  ex- 
pected, coming  from  the  pen  of  Mrs.  Oakes  Smith,  there  is  in  it  at 
times,  a tinge  of  transcendentalism ; yes,  and  of  spiritualism  too; 
to  say  nothing  of  a strong  flavor  of  Swedenborg  ianism,  all  through. 
It  makes  us  ask  the  question,  whether  sensualism  may  not  be 
spiritualized,  and  so  made  fascinating?  The  accomplished 
authoress  seems  to  us  to  prove  the  possibility.  Still,  we  repeat, 
the  book  has  true  genius.  Altogether,  it  is  a remarkable  book. 
It  has  passages  of  surpassingly  fine  writing.  It  is  brimfull  of  true 
poetic  sense  and  feeling,  besides  some  exquisite  scraps  of  genuine 
poetry.” 

Her  next  novel  published  by  my  firm  was  a sensational 
romance,  “The  Newsboy, ’*  which  in  publishers*  parlance, 
was  a decided  hit,  the  sale  reaching  many  thousands.  In 
speaking  of  the  authoress,  the  late  George  D.  Prentice  once 
said  : 

“ Mrs.  Oakes  Smith  is  one  of  the  truest,  as  well  as  one  of 
the  most  fearless  interpreters  of  humanity  that  has  yet  ap- 
peared. Her  insight  is  equally  delicate  and  profound,  and 
her  utterances  ring  out  upon  the  murky  cloud  of  selfish- 
ness that  envelopes  the  race,  like  the  clear  tones  of  a 
bugle  upon  the  evening  air.  Her  mind  is  a charming 
compound  of  instinct  and  philosophy,  inspired  by  an  ex- 
quisite poetic  sense  and  luminious  with  divine  intuitions 
of  all  that  is  holy  and  beautiful  in  the  potential  relations 
of  man.  She  is  among  the  sweetest  and  noblest  of  the 
priestesses  who  minister  at  the  altar  of  poor,  fallen,  yet 
radiant  human  nature.** 

Mrs.  Smith  contributes  occasionally  some  very  beautiful 
poems  to  literary  journals,  and  it  is  understood  she  is  writ- 
ing her  Eeminiscences  of  Noted  Men  and  Women  in  the 
World  of  Letters,  which  cannot  fail  to  be  interesting. 


XXXVI. 


ABRAHAM  HART— HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD. 

Popular  Publishers  of  Belles-Lettres  Books — A Clerk  at 
Thirteen — A Partner  at  Eighteen — A stage-coach  full 
of  Books — Triumphs  over  Harpers — Fenimore  Cooper 
makes  a failure — David  Crockett  “ Fodder , or  no  fod- 
der”— Crockett's  Adventures  in  Texas — Captain  Mar- 
ry at  makes  a Failure — Fanny  Kemble's  Portrait  on  a 
finger-nail — Longfellow  collects  copyright  promptly — 
Griswold  and  his  poetical  volumes — Grand  Dinner 
to  Abraham  Hart , Washington  Irving  and  Moses 
Thomas — Abraham  Hart's  quiet  Retirement. 

rr'HE  firm  of  E.  L.  Carey  and  A.  Hart  was  established 
in  the  year  1829,  and  ten  years  later  were  the  best- 
known  and  most  popular  publishers  of  belles-lettres  books  in 
America. 

Mr.  Carey  was  a son  of  the  celebrated  Mathew  Carey, 
the  founder  of  the  business  in  1785,  and  a brother  of  the 
eminent  political  economist,  Henry  C.  Carey,  who  was  also 
a prominent  publisher  about  that  time,  being  the  head  of 
the  firm  of  Carey  & Lea. 

Abraham  Hart  was  early  inducted  into  the  bookselling 
business.  He  was  a clerk  when  a boy  at  thirteen,  and  in 
business  for  himself  when  seventeen  years  of  age,  then  a 
year  later  became  a partner  of  the  late  E.  L.  Carey,  and  in 
the  same  store  he  conducted  a thriving  business  for  a quar- 
ter of  a century. 

Edward  L.  Carey  died  in  the  year  1845.  The  business, 
however,  was  continued  by  his  surviving  partner,  and  Mr. 
Carey’s  nephew,  Henry  Carey  Baird,  until  1849,  and  sub- 
[550] 


ABRAHAM  HART. 


551 


sequently  Mr.  Hart  alone,  under  the  style  of  A.  Hart  (late 
Carey  & Hart),  until  the  year  1845,  when  he  retired  with 
a competency. 

During  a recent  visit  to  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Hart  related 
to  me  some  of  the  interesting  incidents  of  his  book-publish- 
ing career. 

In  1836,  Carey  & Hart  had  received  an  advance  copy  of 
Bulwer’s  “ Rienzi,”  from  the  English  publisher,  for  which 
they  paid  a liberal  sum.  The  Harpers  had  also  received  an 
advance  copy  by  the  same  packet,  there  being  no  steamers 
in  those  days ; then  came  the  rivalry  to  see  who  would 
first  supply  the  market  with  early  copies.  Mr.  Hart  says, 
that  on  the  day  it  was  received,  they  distributed  the  sheets 
of  this  advance  copy  among  twelve  different  printers,  in 
order  to  produce  the  book  before  the  Harpers  put  theirs 
on  the  market ; and  by  nine  o’clock  the  next  morning,  the 
sheets  of  the  whole  edition  were  delivered  to  the  binders, 
who  had  the  cases  already  made  in  shape  for  binding. 
That  same  afternoon,  500  complete  copies  were  forwarded 
to  New  York  booksellers  by  the  mail  stage,  the  only  con- 
veyance by  which  they  could  reach  New  York  by  daylight 
the  following  morning,  and  this  could  only  be  accomplished 
by  hiring  all  the  passenger  seats.  Mr.  Hart  was  the  only 
passenger  of  the  stage  that  morning,  the  remaining  space 
in  the  coach  being  taken  up  with  Bulwer’s  “Rienzi.”  The 
volume  was  for  sale  in  all  the  New  York  book-stores,  one 
day  earlier  than  Harpers*  edition  of  the  same  work. 

Lea  & Blanchard  were  the  publishers  of  Cooper’s  nov- 
els. Mr.  Cooper  came  to  Carey  & Hart  one  day  with  the 
manuscript  of  a novel  entitled  “Eleanor  Wyllis.”  The 
book  was  published  anonymously ; Mr.  Cooper  never 
acknowledged  the  authorship,  although  the  copyright  was 
paid  to  him  for  which  he  receipted  in  full  for  his  own  ac- 
count. Mr.  Hart  believes  that  Mr.  Cooper  was  the  author 
of  the  book,  and  wished  to  test  its  merit  without  any  refer- 
ence to  the  name  of  the  author.  It  was  not  a success.  My 


552 


ABRAHAM  HART. 


readers  will  remember  an  experiment  akin  to  this  as  re- 
lated to  me  by  John  Wiley. 

Carey  & Hart  were  the  publishers  of  a series  of 
humorous  volumes  in  illuminated  covers  which  were  very 
popular  in  their  day;  among  others,  Major  Jones'  Court- 
ship by  W.  T.  Thompson,  Tom  Owen,  the  Bee  Hunter, 
by  T.  B.  Thorpe. 

At  an  earlier  day  they  published  the  “ Life  of  David 
Crockett,"  written  by  himself  (according  to  the  title-page). 
This  book  became  famous  all  over  the  country.  Col. 
Crockett,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  at  the  time  a mem- 
ber of  Congress  from  Tennessee,  an  eccentric  backwoods- 
man. The  fact  was,  that  the  book  was  not  actually  writ- 
ten by  David  Crockett,  but  for  him,  by  Mathew  St.  Clair 
Clarke,  then  Secretary  of  the  Senate. 

In  this  book  originated  the  well-known  expressions 
attributed  to  David  Crockett,  “ Stand  up  to  the  rack,  fod- 
der or  no  fodder,"  “ Be  sure  you're  right,  then  go  ahead," 
and  other  sayings,  which  became  household  words.  Col. 
Crockett  was  interested  in  the  copyright,  and  enjoyed  his 
fame  as  an  author  very  much.  Tens  of  thousands  of 
copies  have  been  sold,  and  the  sale  continues. 

The  late  Richard  Penn  Smith  was  in  Carey  & Hart's 
one  day,  when  Edward  L.  Carey  told  him  that  they  had  a 
large  number  of  copies  of  Crockett's  “ Tour  Down  East " 
which  didn't  sell.  Crockett  had  just  then  been  executed 
by  the  Mexican  authorities  at  the  Alamo,  and  Mr.  Carey 
suggested  to  Mr.  Smith,  that  if  they  could  get  up  a book 
of  Crockett's  adventures  in  Texas,  it  would  not  only  itself 
sell,  but  get  them  clear  of  the  other  books.  They  secured 
all  the  works  on  Texas  they  could  lay  their  hands  on,  and 
Smith  undertook  the  work.  Mr.  Carey  said  he  wanted  it 
done  in  great  haste,  and  asked  him  when  it  would  be  ready 
for  the  printer;  his  reply  was,  “ To-morrow  morning." 
Smith  came  up  to  the  contract,  and  never  kept  the  printer 
waiting.  The  result  was  that  a great  many  thousands  of 


ABRAHAM  HART. 


553 


copies  of  the  book  were  sold  and  all  the  balance  of  the 
edition  of  the  “ Tour  Down  East.” 

Among  the  popular  publications  issued  by  this  firm, 
were  C apt.  Marryat’s  “ Peter  Simple,”  “Jacob  Faithful,” 
and  other  of  his  novels.  They  became  so  very  popular  that 
Capt.  Marry  at  decided  to  come  to  this  country.  On  the 
author's  arrival  in  New  York,  Carey  & Hart,  as  a com- 
pliment, and  thinking  he  might  perhaps  write  more  good 
selling  novels,  presented  him  with  a check  for  two  thou- 
sand dollars.  When  he  went  on  to  Philadelphia,  he  called 
on  his  publishers  and  thanked  them,  as  he  did  not  expect 
anything  of  the  kind,  considering  all  American  publishers 
— Pirates.  Notwithstanding  this  uncomplimentary  remark, 
they  arranged  for  the  publication  of  his  new  and  last 
novel,  “ Snarlevow  ; or,  The  Dog  Fiend,”  for  which  they 
paid  him  a copyright ; an  unfortunate  investment  for 
them,  as  it  fell  almost  dead  from  the  press,  the  author 
himself  dying  soon  after.  This  was  about  the  first  copy- 
right paid  to  a foreign  author. 

Carey  & Hart  were  the  publishers  of  an  annual,  entitled 
“The  Gift,”  of  which  40,000  copies  were  published  and 
sold  in  five  years.  It  was  elegantly  illustrated  by  such  en- 
gravers as  Cheney,  Dodson  and  Pease  (the  former  still 
living  at  the  age  of  90).  In  one  of  these  gift-books  was 
a picture  of  Fanny  Kemble,  the  original  of  which  was 
taken  from  a painting  by  the  great  artist — Sully,  which  he 
sketched  on  his  thumb-nail,  while  she  was  acting  in  Phila- 
delpha.  This  was  considered  a great  achievement,  as  she 
declined  to  have  her  likeness  produced  by  any  process 
whatever. 

Carey  & Hart  published  the  first  illustrated  edition  of 
Longfellow's  poetical  works,  for  which  they  paid  the  author 
five  hundred  dollars  for  each  thousand  copies  printed. 
The  author  was  very  prompt  in  drawing  his  copyright 
money,  on  the  very  day  the  edition  was  published.  Mr. 
Longfellow,  about  1844,  accepted  a proposition  from  Mr. 
Carey,  to  prepare  a volume  entitled,  “ Poets  and  Poetry  of 


554 


ABRAHAM  HART. 


Europe,”  which  was  eminently  successful.  It  now  bears 
the  imprint  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  & Oo. 

Carey  & Hart  first  proposed  to  Rufus  W.  Griswold,  to 
prepare  the  “ Poets  and  Poetry  of  America.”  It  was  an 
immense  literary  and  commercial  success,  and  was  soon 
followed  by  “Poets  and  Poetry  of  England,”  “Female 
Poets  of  America,”  and  “ The  Prose  Writers  of  America,” 
all  by  the  same  author.  They  were  all  successful  ventures, 
and  are  standard  works  to  this  day. 

Mr.  Hart  informs  me  that  their  relations  with  Rev.  Dr. 
Griswold  were  all  of  the  pleasantest  kind.  He  was  a care- 
ful, plodding,  and  he  believes,  a conscientious  compiler  of 
the  several  volumes  of  the  Authors  of  America,  bearing  his 
name  as  editor. 

The  world  is  indebted  for  the  first  collected  volumes 
of  Macaulay’s  Essays  to  American  enterprise.  These 
were  selected  from  the  Edinburgh  Review , and  published 
in  five  volumes.  There  was  an  immediate  and  eager 
demand  .for  them  in  this  country  as  well  as  in  England, 
but  Carey  & Hart  never  sent  a copy  for  sale  to  Great 
Britain,  although  they  were  charged  with  so  doing  by  the 
Edinburgh  Revieiv  — a charge  which  was  indignantly  » 
denied  in  correspondence  with  the  publishers  of  the 
Review. 

To  James  T.  Fields  and  George  P.  Putnam,  a like 
credit  is  due  for  the  first  published  volume  of  the  works  of 
De  Quincy  and  of  Thomas  Hood,  which  were  selected  by 
them  respectively  from  the  newspapers  and  periodicals  in 
which  they  first  appeared. 

On  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Hart  from  business  in  1854,  a 
complimentary  dinner  was  given  him  by  a committee,  of 
the  Philadelphia  Book  Trade,  which  was  largely  attended 
and  greatly  enjoyed  by  the  many  friends  who  were  present 
on  the  occasion.  The  following  letter  of  invitation  and  two 
of  the  responses  from  the  senior  members  of  two  well-known 
firms  will  interest  those  who  were  booksellers  thirty  years 


ABRAHAM  HART. 


555 


‘‘Philadelphia,  May  15th,  1854. 

“ Dear  Sir: 

“The  members  of  the  book  trade,  and  its  kindred  branches, 
in  this  city,  as  a mark  of  personal  and  professional  regard  for  Mr. 
A.  Hart  have  tendered  him  a dinner  on  the  occasion  of  his  retire- 
ment from  business.  He  has  accepted  the  invitation,  and  appointed 
Wednesday  the  24th  iust.,  as  the  time  most  convenient  for  him- 
self. As  your  company  on  the  occasion  will  be  very  gratifying  to 
the  gentlemen  who  will  compose  the  party,  we  enclose  you  a ticket 
and  trust  that  your  engagements  will  allow  you  to  be  present. 
Hoping  to  hear  from  you  at  your  earliest  convenience, 

“We  are,  very  respectfully, 


M.  Thomas, 

J.  B.  Lippincott, 

T.  K.  Collins, 

L.  A.  Godey, 

Morton  McMichael. 


• Committee. 

J 


“John  Grigg,  Esq.,  and  about  200  others.” 


FROM  JAMES  HARPER. 

“ No.  4 Gramercy  Park,  New  York,  May  22nd,  1854. 

“Allow  me  to  return  you  my  cordial  thanks  for  your  invita- 
tion to  be  present  at  the  dinner  to  be  given  by  the  ‘Trade’  in 
Philadelphia  on  the  24th  inst.,  as  a mark  of  personal  and  profes- 
sional regard  for  our  old  and  honored  friend , Abraham  Hart.  I 
regret,  however,  that  circumstances  beyond  my  control,  compel 
me  to  be  in  New  York  on  the  day  referred  to.  I need  not  assure 
you,  gentlemen,  of  the  high  esteem  I entertain  for  our  friend — an 
esteem  founded  upon  personal  acquaintance  and  business  relations 
which  have  lasted  for  a quarter  of  a century.  Nor  need  I tell  you 
that  I should  be  proud  of  the  opportunity  to  give  evidence  of  that 
esteem  in  any  and  every  way."  Indeed,  gentlemen,  so  confident 
am  I that  our  worthy  friend  could  be  called  upon  to  fill  no  post 
that  he  would  not  occupy  with  honor  to  himself,  that  were  I an 
inhabitant  of  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love  or  of  your  noble  Keystone 
State,  I would  4 go  in  ’ strongly  for  his  nomination  as  Mayor  of  the 
City  or  Governor  of  the  State. 

“ Accept,  gentlemen,  for  yourselves  and  for  the  members  of  our 
Trade  whom  you  represent  on  this  occasion,  the  assurance  of  my 
most  cordial  esteem  and  regaid.” 


556 


ABRAHAM  HART. 


FROM  WILLIAM  H.  APPLETON. 

“ . . . . Mr.  Hart  truly  retires  from  business  after  main- 

taining for  many  years  a high  position  for  his  uniform  gentle- 
manly courtesy  and  honorable  dealing. 

“ It  is  understood  by  the  members  of  the  trade,  how  many  con- 
flicting claims  may  arise  in  reference  to  the  publishing  of  books, 
the  conflict  of  editions,  and  how  often  self-interest  may  govern  to 
the  injury  of  another,  and  I wish  to  bear  testimony  after  many 
years  of  intimate  business  relations  with  Mr.  Hart  of  his  careful 
regard  to  the  rights  of  others,  so  much  to  be  encouraged  and 
honored.'’ 

Previous  to  the  festival  above  referred  to,  and  during 
the  sale  of  Mr.  Hart’s  stereotype  plates,  not  only  the  fol- 
lowing remarks  of  the  former,  but  those  of  the  late  Moses 
Thomas  were  made,  and  will  be  interesting  to  those  who 
knew  the  venerable  senior  of  the  well  known  and  honor- 
able firm  of  M.  Thomas  & Sons. 

Mr.  Hart  said:  “You  Sir,  were  the  first  person  to  introduce  me 
into  the  book  business,  having  given  me  a letter  of  credit  to  pur- 
chase, at  the  Boston  trade-sale,  held  in  1827,  when  I was  but  six- 
teen years  of  age,  an  amount  of  five  thousand  dollars,  on  my  own 
judgment,  a confidence  which  I have  remembered  to  this  day; 
and  two  years  afterwards,  you  were  instrumental  in  arranging  the 
partnership  for  me  with  the  late  Edward  L.  Carey;  and  now,  after 
twenty-five  years  of  successful  business,  you  are  about  to  conduct 
me  out  of  the  trade,  by  disposing  of  my  stereotype  plates;  and  I 
must  here  acknowledge  my  gratitude  to  you  for  those  acts  of  kind- 
ness and  confidence  extended  towards  a mere  boy.” 

“At  the  close  of  the  sale,  Mr.  Thomas  took  occasion  to  remark 
that  he  could  not  allow  the  expressions  of  gratitude  that  fell 
from  Mr.  Hart,  at  the  opening  of  the  sale,  to  pass  without  an  ac- 
knowledgment from  him,  that  the  obligations  had  not  been  alto- 
gether on  one  side — that,  although  at  the  commencement  of  their 
intercourse,  he  had  no  other  object  in  view  than  to  promote  the 
interest  of  a deserving  and  enterprising  young  man,  yet  it  hap- 
pened, some  years  afterwards,  that  Mr.  Hart  had  it  in  his  power 
to  render  him,  in  return,  important  and  valuable  services;  and 
that  he  had  never  failed  to  avail  himself  of  every  opportunity  to 


ABRAHAM  HART. 


557 


do  so — that  to  no  man  in  this  community  was  he  under  greater 
obligations  than  to  his  friend  Hart,  and  he  took  pleasure  in  thus 
making  a public  acknowledgment.” 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  quote  here  the  following 
interesting  portions  of  a letter  from  Washington  Irving  to 
his  brother  Ebenezer  Irving,  dated  London,  January  29th, 
1822. 

“My  Dear  Brother: 

“ Bv  the  packet  from  Liverpool  which  brings  this  letter,  I 
forward  you  a parcel,  containing  the  first  volume  of  ‘Bracebridge 
Hall  ; or,  the  Humorists,’  a medley  in  two  volumes. 

****** 

“The  work  had  better  be  printed  in  duodecimo,  and  to  save 
time  in  binding,  let  the  volumes  be  put  up  in  lettered  covers  like 
the  ‘ Sketch  Book.’  The  second  edition  can  be  got  up  in  better 
style.  The  first  volume  runs,  as  near  as  I can  guess,  between  340 
and  350  pages  of  the  American  edition  of  the  ‘ Sketch  Book.’ 
The  second  volume  will  be  about  the  same  size.  You  can  make 
your  estimates  accordingly.  Put  what  price  you  think  proper.  I 
do  not  care  about  its  being  a very  high  one.  1 wish , expressly, 
Moses  Thomas  to  have  the  preference  over  every  other  publisher. 

“ I impress  this  upon  you,  and  beg  you  to  attend  to  it,  as  earn- 
estly as  if  I had  written  three  sheets  full  on  the  subject.  What- 
ever may  have  been  his  embarrassments,  and  consequent  want  of 
punctuality,  he  is  one  who  showed  a disposition  to  serve  me,  and 
who  did  serve  me  in  the  time  of  my  adversity,  and  I should  des- 
pise myself,  could  I,  for  a moment,  forget  it.  Let  him  have  the 
work  on  better  terms  than  other  publishers,  and  do  not  be  de- 
terred by  the  risk  of  loss.” 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Irving  exhibited  the 
same  attachment  to  the  late  George  P.  Putnam,  under 
similar  circumstances. 

I first  met  Mr.  Hart  in  1838,  at  the  book-trade  sales  in 
Philadelphia,  and  for  years  had  large  dealings  with  him. 
He  was  a most  admirable  auctioneer,  and  was  then  selling 
his  owTn  invoice  of  books  as  was  his  custom. 


558 


IIENRY  CAREY  BAIRD. 


Frequently,  in  after  years,  his  cheery  voice  and  urbane 
courtesy,  and  his  well-known  happy  and  persuasive  powers 
as  an  auctioneer,  were  frequently  brought  into  requisition 
by  leading  publishers,  who  were  always  anxious  to  procure 
his  services  when  practical,  in  disposing  of  their  several  in- 
voices at  the  trade-sales.  Mr.  Hart  is  now  living  in  quiet 
retirement,  in  the  city  of  his  birth,  respected  and  honored 
by  all  who  know  him. 


HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD. 

Becomes  Partner  at  tiventy — Earliest  Publisher  of  technical 
books — A Student  of  Political  Economy — Fenimore 
Cooper — Dr.  Francis  Lieber — “ JVo  Right  without  its 
Duty” — (( No  Duty  without  its  Right” — Baird  meets 
William  Wordsworth — Copyright  Laics  a bundle  of 
Absurdities. 

ON  the  death  of  Edward  L.  Carey,  in  June,  1845,  Henry 
Carey  Baird,  a nephew  of  the  former,  succeeded  to  his 
interest  in  the  house  of  Carey  & Hart,  although  not  then 
twenty  years  of  age.  Mr.  Baird  continued  a member  of  the 
firm  until  its  final  dissolution  in  the  fall  of  1849,  when  he 
commenced  business  on  his  own  account. 

Early  in  his  career  as  a publisher,  his  attention  was 
directed  to  the  publication  of  technical  books,  and  he  soon 
conceived  the  idea  of  covering  the  whole  field  of  technical 
literature,  and  has  almost  ever  since  kept  this  aim  in  view, 
and  his  firm — Henry  Carey  Baird  & Co.,  consisting  of  Mr. 
Baird  and  Mr.  John  F.  Garde — has  more  fully  accomplished 
this  specialty  than  any  other  house  which  has  ever  existed  on 
this  Continent.  But  Mr.  Baird  by  no  means  considers  the 
work  complete,  and  is  still  adding  to  the  variety  of  his 
list,  which  will  rank  with  any  of  its  special  character  pub- 
lished anywhere  in  the  English  language. 


HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD. 


559 


Mr.  Baird  is  one  of  those  men  who  contend  that  a man 
does  not  need  to  make  himself  a mere  devotee  to  business 
in  order  to  be  successful.  He  has  therefore  felt  himself  at 
liberty,  consistently  with  his  calling,  to  devote  no  inconsid- 
erable time  to  economic  pursuits.  lie  has  studied  and 
written  much  upon  social  questions,  and  always  writing  and 
speaking  in  such  a manner  that  there  is  no  difficulty  in 
finding  where  he  stands.  In  a word,  he  is  a man  of  very 
decided  opinions,  and  expresses  them  freely.  On  this  sub- 
ject he  is  deeply  inbued  with  the  doctrines  of  his  kinsman, 
the  late  Henry  C.  Carey,  and  in  pursuing  these  studies  and 
engaging  in  these  discussions  he  is  the  third  generation 
in  his  family  to  follow  this  pursuit  with  enthusiasm  ; his 
grandfather,  Mathew  Carey,  who,  in  1785,  founded  the  house 
which  lie  now  continues,  having  been  quite  as  enthusiastic 
in  the  dissemination  of  economic  doctrines  as  Henry  C. 
Carey  or  Henry  Carey  Baird  has  been.  Mr.  Baird  has 
traveled  much  in  Europe  and  met  with  many  distinguished 
men,  and  he  is  not  wholly  without  a European  reputation  as 
a writer  on  economic  subjects.  Especially  is  such  the  case 
in  Germany,  where  some  of  his  writings  have  been  trans- 
lated and  published.  He  is  the  author  of  the  economic  arti- 
cles in  all  of  the  editions  of  the  American  Cyclopedia.  He 
has  written  quite  enough  to  make  a good-sized  volume,  and 
contemplates  at  an  early  day  collecting  the  more  important 
of  them,  and  publishing  them  under  the  title  of  “ Miscel- 
laneous Papers  on  Economic  Questions/’ 

It  is  Mr.  Baird’s  deliberate  opinion,  after  considerable 
thought  on  the  matter,  that  in  proportion  to  the  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States,  there  are  not  so  many  books 
published  and  sold  in  this  country  to-day  as  there  were  in 
Carey  & Hart’s  time.  While  there  is  a vastly  larger 
number  of  readers,  most  people  now  do  not  read  books, 
but  read  magazines  and  newspapers.  He  says,  when  you 
come  across  a man  who  is  a great  newspaper  reader,  you 
will  find  a man  who  never  reads  books.  Dr.  James  Rush 
of  Philadelphia,  when  he  left  his  estate  to  the  Philadel- 


560 


HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD. 


phia  Library,  did  so  on  the  condition  that  none  of  it  should 
be  used  for  the  purchase  of  newspapers,  which  he  called 
“disjoined  thinking.”  In  this  connection  Mr.  Baird  tells 
a good  story  about  newspapers  as  authority.  Some  years 
ago,  Henry  C.  Carey  saw  something  in  a newspaper  in  re- 
gard to  what  was  likely  to  transpire  (some  public  legisla- 
tion) in  Washington,  which  alarmed  him  very  much  ; he 
mentioned  it  to  his  friend  Morton  McMichael,  the  editor 
and  publisher  of  the  North  American , and  McMichael  re- 
plied, “ Oh  ! Carey,  don’t  worry  yourself  about  it ; I never 
believe  anything  I see  in  a newspaper.” 

On  one  occasion  Mr.  Baird  said  to  me,  “J.  Fenimore 
Cooper  was  in  the  habit  of  coming  into  the  store  very 
often,  and  one  day,  the  principal  clerk  of  Carey  & Hart, 
thought  it  was  a remarkably  creditable  thing  for  a boy  of 
my  age  to  illustrate  with  inserted  plates  as  I did  Cooper’s 
Naval  History,  then  recently  published,  and  said  to  me, 
‘ You  had  better  show  this  book  to  Mr.  Cooper,  it  will 
please  him  very  much/  Cooper  came  in  in  a day  or  two, 
and  was  shown  the  book,  which  he  looked  over  very  crit- 
ically, and  then  said,  ‘ I don’t  think  either  you  or  I have 
done  credit  to  these  great  officers  of  the  Navy.’” 

The  circumstances  upon  which  Mr.  Baird  was  called 
upon  to  write  the  article  on  banks  were  these  : Mr.  Carey 
had  just  come  home  from  Europe,  in  1857 — the  panic  year, 
and  found  on  his  arrival,  an  application  from  Charles  A. 
Dana,  to  write  an  article  for  Appleton’s  Cyclopedia  on 
banking.  Mr.  Baird  was  just  at  that  time  beginning  to 
make  himself  acquainted  with  economic  questions,  having 
been  impelled  to  it  by  the  crisis  of  1857,  and  was  full 
of  enthusiasm  on  the  subject.  Mr.  Carey  handed  him 
Mr.  Dana’s  letter,  and  said  he  didn’t  want  to  write  the 
article;  but,  added,  “you  want  to  understand  the  sub- 
ject of  banking,  and  the  right  way  to  study  a subject  is  to 
teach  it.”  So  he  wrote  that  article,  and  it  was  very  well 
received.  This  was  followed  up  by  articles  on  that  class  of 
subjects,  both  for  that  edition  and  subsequent  ones. 


HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD. 


561 


Henry  Carey  was  the  one  who  started  the  “ Cyclopedia 
Americana.”  It  was  commenced  by  Carey  & Lea,  and 
finished  by  Lea  & Blanchard.  They  employed  Dr.  Francis 
Lieber  to  edit  it.  The  latter  published  a pamphlet  once  in 
favor  of  what  is  called  “ free  trade,”  and  he  put  the  fol- 
lowing motto  on  the  title-page  : 

“ No  right  without  its  duty, 

No  duty  without  its  right.” 

Mr.  Baird  says  regarding  the  same,  “ I saw  it  was  such  a 
fine  one  in  favor  of  protection,  I put  it  on  a pamphlet  of 
mine,  and  thanked  him  for  giving  it  to  me,  but  I never  got 
an  answer.” 

“Dr.  Lieber  thought  a man  who  was  a producer  in  this 
country,  had  no  rights,  overlooking  the  fact,  that  accord- 
ing to  his  own  doctrine  when  a man  pays  taxes,  he  per- 
forms a “duty”  and  thus  acquires  “rights.”  If  an 
American  producer  had  no  rights,  except  to  pay  taxes,  he 
didn’t  recognize  the  fact  that  the  State  owed  him  anything 
in  the  way  of  protection,  and  so  he  wrote  his  pamphlet  in 
favor  of  what  he  called  “free  trade.”  I came  across  it 
just  about  the  time  I was  writing  a pamphlet  on  the  Rights 
of  American  Producers.” 

When  Mr.  Baird  was  quite  a young  man,  he  learned 
that  Samuel  Rodgers,  the  poet  banker,  was  extremely  anxi- 
ous to  get  a book  printed  by  Benjamin  Franklin,  as  printer. 
He  ascertained  this  from  James  T.  Fields.  Such  a book 
was  found  and  he  had  it  nicely  bound  and  sent  to  Rodgers. 
In  1847,  when  Mr.  Baird  was  in  London,  Mr.  Carey’s 
brother-in-law,  Charles  R.  Leslie,  the  painter,  took  Fields 
and  himself  to  Rodgers’  house  to  see  his  pictures,  and  they 
saw  on  a table  in  his  drawing-room  the  little  book  printed 
by  Franklin,  the  receipt  of  which  had  never  been  acknowl- 
edged. 

Mr.  Baird  informs  me  that  the  first  piece  of  real  literary 
work  that  he  ever  did  was  after  he  came  home  from  Eu- 
rope ; on  that  occasion  he  wrote  quite  a detailed  account  of 
22 


562 


HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD. 


a visit  that  James  T.  Fields  and  himself  paid  to  Words- 
worth, which  was  published  at  the  time.  On  that  occa- 
sion Mr.  Baird  was  impressed  with  the  fact  that  by 
far  the  best  portrait  of  Wordsworth  that  was  ever  painted 
was  that  by  Henry  Inman  for  Professor  Henry  Reed, 
of  Philadelphia.  When  he  was  subsequently  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Ambleside,  he  stopped  at  the  “ Saluta- 
tion Inn/’  where  on  one  occasion,  Sir  Walter  Scott,  on  his 
way  to  dine  with  Wordsworth,  told  them  at  the  Inn  that 
he  knew  that  Wordsworth’s  dinners  were  rather  slim,  so 
he  took  the  precaution  of  eating  dinner  there  before  he 
visited  the  poet ; he  accordingly  did  so,  and  then  went  to 
Wordsworth’s  to  dine. 

Mr.  Baird  is  probably  the  only  publisher  who  takes 
broad  and  decided  grounds  against  the  copyright  laws.  He 
is  in  favor  of  the  entire  revision  of  our  copyright  laws,  which 
are  considered  by  him  a bundle  of  absurdities  and  inconsis- 
tencies. He,  however,  never  reprints  an  English  book,  pre- 
ferring to  make  those  which  are  better  adapted  to  Amer- 
ican technical  wants  and  can  be  protected  by  copyright. 


XXXVII. 


THREE  FAMOUS  NOVELISTS. 


MARION  HARLAND. 

A call  from  the  Father  of  the  Author — “ Marion  Harland ” 
a young  Virginian — Enormous  sale  of  “Alone” — 
“ The  Hidden  Path another  success — Tribute  of  Anna 
Cora  Ritchie — A big  fire  and  an  Author's  loss — “ Com- 
mon sense  in  the  Household” — What  one  Publisher 
gains  another  loses — Copyright  of  07ie  book,  and  Gov- 
ernor's salary — A Christmas  visit  to  Richmond — Tet- 
ter from  Marion  Harland  to  her  first  Publisher. 

T N the  year  1854,  soon  after  I had  established  myself  in 
the  publishing  business  in  the  City  of  New  York,  a 
gentleman  called  upon  me  with  a volume  which  had  been 
printed  in  Richmond,  Virginia,  and  for  which  he  desired  a 
New  York  publisher.  It  was  a new  novel  entitled  “ Alone,” 
by  Marion  Harland,  of  which  I had  already  heard  through 
some  friendly  criticisms  of  the  press,  and  was  therefore  pre- 
pared to  arrange  for  the  publication  of  the  book  without 
delay. 

The  gentleman  referred  to  was  Samuel  P.  Hawes,  a well- 
to-do  merchant  of  Richmond,  and  Marion  Harland  was 
the  nom  de  plume  of  his  eldest  daughter,  Mary  Virginia. 
From  him  I learned  that  the  book  had  been  written  by  his 
daughter  when  yet  in  her  teens,  and  that  a small  edition 
had  been  printed  in  Richmond  by  a bookseller  of  that  city, 

[563] 


564 


MARION  IIARLAND. 


lie  himself  guaranteeing  the  expense  of  bringing  out  the 
edition  already  printed. 

We  soon  came  to  terms,  and  I became  the  first  New 
York  publisher  for  an  authoress  whose  career  in  the  liter- 
ary world  has  been  an  uninterrupted  success.  More  than 
one  hundred  thousand  copies  have  been  sold  of  the  volume 
referred  to,  beside  the  English  and  Leipsic  editions,  it  hav- 
ing been  added  to  the  Tauchnitz  series  of  English  novels. 

Not  unlike  that  of  “ Beulah,”  “ Rutledge,”  and  many 
other  of  what  eventually  proved  to  be  immense  successes, 
“ Alone  ” was  declined  by  a literary  gentleman  known  to 
fame.  The  Richmond  bookseller  to  whom  the  manu- 
script was  submitted,  handed  the  MS.  for  examination  to 
John  R.  Thompson,  at  that  time  editor  of  The  /Southern 
Literary  Messenger,  and  more  recently  literary  editor  of  the 
New  York  Evening  Post.  After  keeping  the  manuscript 
several  months,  he  reported  that  it  had  been  impossible  to 
read  but  few  pages  of  the  story,  but  that  he  had  read  suffi- 
ciently, however,  to  give  his  opinion  that  it  would  not  be 
safe  to  publish  it  except  at  the  expense  of  the  author. 

After  the  success  of  “ Alone,”  and  Marion  Harland's 
subsequent  volumes,  Mr.  Thompson  admitted  that  he  erred 
in  his  judgment,  which  probably  would  have  been  different 
had  he  read  the  whole  book. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  for  me  to  state  here  that  Mr. 
Thompson  himself  came  very  near  being  the  author  of  a 
published  work.  I had  engaged  to  publish  an  edition  of 
one  thousand  copies  of  a volume  of  his  travels,  entitled 
“ Over  the  Ocean.”  The  edition  was  all  printed  and 
ready  to  be  bound  at  the  bindery  ; an  advance  copy  for 
the  author  was  handed  me  by  the  binder  ; the  same  night 
the  bindery  burned,  and  every  copy  was  destroyed  except 
the  one  sent  the  author.  It  was  never  reprinted,  and 
therefore  never  published. 

Marion  Harland's  next  volume,  “ The  Hidden  Path,” 
like  its  predecessor,  was  well  received  by  the  critics,  and 
like  “ Alone,”  met  with  great  success. 


MARION  IIA ELAND. 


565 


Mrs.  Anna  Cora  Ritchie,  renowned  as  an  actress  as  well 
as  a successful  authoress,  residing  at  that  time  at  Rich- 
mond, Virginia,  wrote  me  as  follows  : 

“Let  this  noble  production  (we  use  the  adjective  in  its  fullest 
sense)  lie  upon  the  table,  enliven  the  hearth,  be  the  household 
companion  of  every  true-hearted  Virginian.  Foster  this  gifted 
daughter  of  the  Soutli  with  the  expanding  sunshine  of  apprecia- 
tion, the  refreshing  dews  of  praise — stimulate  undeveloped  genius, 
which  has  never  yet  ‘penned  its  inspiration  ’ to  walk  in  her  steps, 
emulate  her  achievements  and  share  her  honors — let  Virginia  pro- 
duce a few  more  such  writers,  and  the  cry  that  the  South  has  no 
literature  is  silenced  forever  ! ‘ The  Hidden  Path  ’ is  a work  that 
North  or  South,  East  or  West,  may  point  to  with  the  finger  of 
honest  pride,  and  say  our  daughter  sends  this  message  to  the  world 
— pours  this  balm  into  wounded  hearts — traces  for  wavering,  er- 
ring, feet  this  ‘Hidden  Path,’ which  leads  to  the  great  goal  of 
eternal  peace.” 

“ The  Hidden  Path”  was  followed  by  “ Moss  Side  ” and 
“Nemesis,”  the  latter  of  which  was  published  by  me, 
preceding  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  at  which  time 
my  firm  discontinued  business. 

During  the  Christmas  holidays  of  1860,  my  firm  had 
ready  for  publication  an  elegantly  illustrated  volume  en- 
titled, “ The  Women  of  the  South,  distinguished  in  Liter- 
ature,” by  Mary  Forest,  the  nom  de  plume  oi  Julia  D.  Free- 
man, who  had  prepared  the  work  with  conscientious  fidel- 
ity, and  although  the  book  was  got  up  with  great  expense 
it  was  destined  to  commercial  failure  owing  to  the  causes 
already  stated. 

Among  the  “ Women  of  the  South,”  which  Mary  For- 
est so  eloquently  described  was  Marion  Harland  (with  a 
life-like  portrait  on  steel),  of  whom  she  says  : 

“At  the  age  of  fourteen,  without  confiding  to  anyone  what 
she  considered  a daring  project,  she  contributed,  under  an  assumed 
name,  a series  of  papers  to  a weekly  city  journal.  The  notice : 
which  these  sketches  attracted,  the  conjectures  as  to  their  author- 
ship, and  the  commendations  bestowed  upon  them  by  those  whose 


566 


MARION  HARLAND. 


opinion  she  valued,  were  precious  encouragement  to  the  youthful 
writer.  From  that  time  her  pen  was  never  idle,  though  a larger 
proportion  of  its  productions  met  no  eye  except  her  own.  Tales, 
essays,  and  poems  were  sent  from  time  to  time  anonymously  to  the 
different  periodicals  of  the  day,,  and,  stimulated  anew  by  the  ap- 
proval of  her  readers,  she  wrote  and  studied  with  greater  assiduity. 
It  is  well  to  mention  this,  as  a hint  to  young  and  ardent  aspirants  for 
literary  honors  who  are  apt  to  attribute  to  natural  gifts  the  vigor 
of  expression  and  grace  of  style  which  are  only  acquired  by  dili- 
gent practice. 

“A  fugitive  sketch  written  by  our  author  at  sixteen,  and  en- 
titled ‘ Marrying  through  Prudential  Motives,’  appeared  a year 
or  two  later  in  ‘ Godey’s  Lady’s  Book,’  and  had  a somewhat  re- 
markable career.  From  the  ‘ Lady’s  Book  ’ it  was  copied  into  an 
English  paper,  thence  transferred  to  a Parisian  journal,  re-trans- 
lated for  another  English  periodical,  and  finally,  copied  in  America 
and  extensively  circulated  as  an  English  story,  until  claimed  by 
Mr.  Godey  as  one  of  his  publications.” 

Mr.  G-eorge  W.  Carleton  became,  and  still  continues  to 
be,  the  publisher  of  Marion  Harland’s  novels,  which  have 
already  reached  the  number  of  sixteen. 

Marion  Harland  has  said,  that  if  she  had  all  her  writ- 
ing to  do  over  again,  she  would  write  but  one  book  where 
she  has  written  five,  or,  to  use  a culinary  phrase,  she  would 
“boil  them  down.” 

She  has  written  one  volume,  entitled,  “ Eve’s  Daugh- 
ters,” at  the  special  solicitation  of  its  publishers,  to  be  sold 
by  subscription,  and  I am  informed  that  its  sale  has  already 
been  very  large. 

But  Marion  Harland  has  not  been  successful  as  a novel- 
ist, alone. 

Strange  to  say,  the  most  successful  of  all  her  books,  is 
one  devoted  to  cookery  and  the  kitchen.  Before  she  had 
written  “Common  Sense  in  the  Household,”  she  spoke  of 
it  to  her  wide-awake  publisher,  who  generally  knows  in- 
tuitively, the  salable  qualities  of  a book  ; he  however  con- 
sidered it  was  out  of  his  line,  and  thought  it  would  not 


MARION  HARLAND. 


567 


sell;  but,  of  course  he  would  be  glad  to  publish  any  num- 
ber of  novels  she  would  bring  him. 

Marion  Harland,  nothing  daunted  by  this  publisher’s 
refusal,  took  the  manuscript  to  the  late  Charles  Scribner, 
who,  after  looking  it  over,  said,  that  he  did  not  believe  it 
would  be  a success  ; but  he  would  take  the  risk  of  the 
publication,  on  account  of  the  excellent  reputation  of 
Marion  Harland,  as  a writer  of  good  and  pure  fiction  ; and 
thus  he  became  the  publisher  of  that  famous  volume,  the 
nucleus  of  the  “ Common  Sense  Series,”  the  copyright  of 
which  has  yielded  the  author,  a sum  equal  to  three  years’ 
salary  of  the  Governor  of  New  York. 

Mr.  Carle  ton  once  said  to  me,  that  Mr.  Scribner  told  him 
distinctly,  that  when  he  first  talked  about  publishing 
“ Common  Sense  in  the  Household,”  he  believed  it  would 
only  pay  expenses,  but  nothing  more. 

In  the  year  1855,  I accepted  an  invitation  from  Mr. 
Hawes  to  visit  them  during  the  Christmas  holidays, 
at  their  Richmond  home,  where  I met,  for  the  first  time, 
the  author  of  “ Alone.”  It  was  a very  enjoyable  occasion 
to  me,  as  it  was  my  first  visit  south  of  “ Mason  & Dixon’s 
line,”  and  I saw  for  the  first  time,  slavery,  perhaps,  in  its 
pleasantest  phases,  as  Christmas  in  those  days,  was  the 
happiest  and  jolliest  of  all  the  year. 

In  the  following  year,  the  young  authoress  visited  my 
family,  when  she  saw  New  York  and  its  vicinity  for  the 
first  time. 

It  has  not  been  my  fortune  to  meet  this  gifted  writer 
for  nearly  a quarter  of  a century.  In  a recent  letter  re- 
ceived from  her  she  says, 

“ It  is  rather  a singular  coincidence  that  I should  have 
thought  much  of  your  proposed  book,  and  the  old  days  at 
* Glenwood,’  within  the  last  week.  I was  told  in  New 
York,  a few  weeks  ago,  that  ‘ Fifty  Years  Among  Auth- 
ors and  Publishers’  would  not  be  published  until  the  Au- 
tumn  ‘My  subsequent  literary  career!’  I am  some- 

what at  a loss  to  tell  you  anything  of  it  that  will  be  of  use  in 


568 


MIRIAM  COLES  HARRIS. 


your  volume.  The  said  ‘ career/  is,  I think,  a little  remark- 
able, in  that,  after  thirty  years  in  the  field,  I was  never  so 
busy  before  as  now.  Fortunately,  while  American  fiction 
still  ‘paid/ and  ‘Franklin  Square  Library* was  an  unknown 
quantity  in  casting  up  one's  future  accounts,  I published 
‘ Common  Sense  in  the  Household.’  The  step  was  a bold 
one,  opposed  by  friends  and  publishers.  More  than  100,000 
copies  of  the  book  have  been  sold,  and  its  successors  in 

the  series  have  met  with  flattering  success Believe 

me,  it  gives  me  unfeigned  pleasure,  to  see  your  familiar 
handwriting  once  more.  Also,  in  memory  of  the  happy 
days  passed  under  your  roof  I am,  my  dear  Mr.  Derby, 
gratefully  and  affectionately  yours, 

M.  Y.  Terhtoe.” 


MIRIAM  COLES  HARRIS. 

Hoiv  Manuscripts  should  come  to  Publishers — Rejected  by 
one  House,  Accepted  by  Another — A Heroine  without 
a Name — “Rutledge”  an  instantaneous  Success — At- 
tributed to  many  Authors — Her  Portrait  in  “ Vanity 
Fair” — Mrs.  Harris  a successful  Writer. 

\\7HEN  a manuscript  is  brought  to  a publisher  to  read, 
’ * with  a view  to  publication,  it  stands  a better  chance 
of  being  accepted,  if  written  in  a clear  and  readable 
hand.  I was  at  once  attracted  by  the  chirography  as  well 
as  the  singular  title  of  “Rutledge/* 

The  gentleman  who  brought  the  MS.  to  me  said  that  it 
had  been  already  declined,  but  that  he  wished  it  pub- 
lished if  he  had  to  bear  the  expense  himself.  I replied 
that  I would  look  it  over  and  would  advise  him  of  the  re- 
sult in  due  time.  The  gentleman  referred  to  was  the  late 
E.  A.  Weeks,  the  uncle  and  guardian  of  the  author,  who 
called,  as  soon  as  notified  of  the  acceptance  of  “ Rutledge/* 
to  arrange  for  its  publication. 


MIRIAM  COLES  HARRIS. 


569 


The  book  was  published  anonymously,  and  its  history 
is  interesting.  After  its  refusal  by  Harper  & Bros.,  the 
young  author,  in  great  discouragement,  put  it  away  under 
lock  and  key,  thinking  never  to  offer  it  again ; but  a few 
months  after,  her  courage  revived,  and  she  confided  the  MS. 
to-  her  uncle,  whom  she  bound  to  secrecy. 

As  already  said,  I promptly  accepted  the  book,  but  I 
told  Mr.  Weeks  it  would  be  impossible  to  publish  it  with- 
out seeing  the  writer  and  knowing  her  name. 

This  the  young  lady  thought  very  hard  terms,  but  at 
last  she  consented  to  meet  me  at  her  uncle’s  house,  the 
latter  promising  that  her  name  should  not  be  mentioned  dur- 
ing the  interview.  So  the  introduction  was  “ Mr.  Derby, 
my  niece.  Miss  Coles,  author  of  the  story  you  have  been 
looking  at.”  “ Nameless,  like  her  heroine,”  I said,  taking 
her  hand  in  an  assuring  manner,  which  reconciled  the 
youthful  aspirant  for  literary  fame.  When  in  the  course  of 
the  interview  her  uncle  made  the  mistake  of  calling  her  by 
name,  there  was  a laugh,  but  I promised  to  keep  her  secret, 
and  did. 

For  many  months  the  question,  “ Who  wrote  ‘Rut- 
ledge ?’  ” was  being  constantly  answered  in  the  daily  papers. 
It  was  attributed  to  many  clever  girls  in  many  clever  circles 
throughout  the  country.  Fanny  Kemble  exclaimed,  when 
reading  it,  that  no  girl  in  America  could  have  written 
the  book  but  her  daughter  Sarah,  and  upon  the  strength 
of  this  maternal  conviction,  for  several  weeks  the  author 
of  “Rutledge”  was  declared  to  be  Sarah  Butler,  to  be  in 
turn  displaced  by  Harriet  Lane,  Miss  Minturn,  Miss  Tracy 
and  a host  of  others. 

The  sale  of  the  book  was  enormous,  each  new  name  of 
the  supposed  author  giving  it  a fresh  impetus.  The  in- 
cognito of  the  author  was  very  well  preserved,  few  people 
really  suspecting  her,  even  near  members  of  her  family 
denying  with  emphasis  what  they  considered  a most  absurd 
report. 

During  the  height  of  the  interest  manifested  in  the 


570 


MIRIAM  COLES  HARRIS. 


matter,  there  appeared  a notice  that  the  next  week's  Vanity 
Fair  would  contain  a portrait  of  the  author  of  “ Rutledge.” 
The  paper  sold  very  largely  that  week,  but  the  inquisitive 
buyers  found  only  the  half-length  figure  of  a young  lady 
holding  a fan  before  her  face.  The  indifference  of  the 
author  to  fame  appears  to  have  been  a strong  temptation  to 
unscrupulous  lovers  of  notoriety,  for  a number  of  women 
have  personated  her,  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and 
carried  on  for  months,  and  in  one  case  for  years,  a most 
extraordinary  sort  of  deception. 

Among  all  the  criticisms  that  have  been  passed  upon 
Rutledge,  the  shortest,  but  perhaps  the  most  comprehensive, 
was  made  by  the  late  Henry  T.  Tuckerman  at  a dinner  at 
which  he  was  present,  when  her  book  being  mentioned 
he  exclaimed,  “ That  lady  knows  how  to  tell  a story — she 
knows  just  how  to  tell  it." 

Mrs.  Harris's  second  book  was  thought  to  be  something 
of  an  autobiography,  under  the  veil  of  fiction  ; it  was  en- 
titled “Louie's  last  Term  at  St.  Mary's,"  the  author  hav- 
ing been  educated  at  that  school  at  Burlington,  N.  J.,  under 
the  supervision  of  the  late  Bishop  Doane.  Mrs.  Harris  is 
a devoted  adherent  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  She  is  the 
author  of  a beautiful  devotional  volume  entitled  ‘ A Rosary 
for  Lent.’  She  is  also  the  author  of  ten  different  success- 
ful novels,  all  of  which  are  now  published  by  G.  W.  Carle- 
ton  & Co. 

A recent  work,  entitled  “Phoebe  "is  thus  spoken  of 
by  that  excellent  critic  R.  H.  Stoddard,  in  the  New  York 
Evening  Mail : 

“A  marked  contrast  to  the  fiction  in  vogue  among  us  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  years  ago  and  that  in  vogue  to-day  is  a newr  story, 
Phoebe,  by  the  author  of  Rutledge.  The  author,  whose  name 
escapes  us,  if  we  ever  knew  it,  is  a healthy,  right-minded  and 
very  womanly  writer,  and  in  Phoebe  she  has  delineated  a character 
which  will  commend  itself  to  a great  many  healthy  and  right- 
minded  people.  She  is  a story-teller,  not  an  analogist.” 


MARY  J.  HOLMES. 


571 


MARY  J.  HOLMES. 

Immense  Sale  of  her  Novels — Large  Sums  received  in 
Copyright — A Precocious  Writer — Early  Marriage 
and  Literary  Success — Income  from  Authorship , Ten 
Thousand  a Year — Why  so  Popular  an  Author — 
Like  Topsy , “ She  growed  so  ” — The  Author's  Elegant 
Home — Beautif  ul  Tribute  from  her  Pastor. 

rT'HE  novels  of  Mary  J.  Holmes  have  undoubtedly  yielded 
the  author  a larger  sum  than  that  received  by  any 
other  American  authoress,  with  the  possible  exception  of 
the  author  of  “Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin. ” 

Mrs.  Holmes  comes  of  literary  stock  on  the  paternal 
side.  Her  father’s  brother,  Rev.  Dr.  Joel  Hawes,  was  the 
author  of  the  celebrated  “ Lectures  to  Young  Men,”  which 
was  a popular  book  among  book  sellers  forty  years  ago. 
Dr.  Hawes  was  also  the  author  of  the  “ Looking  Glass  for 
Ladies ; or,  the  Formation  and  Excellence  of  Female 
Character,”  which  volume,  no  doubt,  had  an  influence  ou 
the  mind  of  his  precocious  niece,  who  was  from  her  earlier 
years  a great  reader  of  books,  whether  they  were  “ Baxter’s 
Saint’s  Rest,”  Goethe’s  “Sorrows  of  Werther,”  or  similar 
works.  Mrs.  Holmes  read  whatever  came  in  her  way  ; 
when  quite  young  she  developed  a taste  for  fiction. 

In  early  life  she  was  married  to  Mr.  Daniel  Holmes,  a 
graduate  of  Yale,  and  a lawyer  by  profession. 

Soon  after  their  marriage  the  young  couple  removed  to 
Kentucky,  where  is  laid  the  scene  of  her  first  novel, 

* She  is  also  the  sister  of  the  Hon.  Kirk  Hawes,  one  of  the 
judges  of  the  Chicago  Superior  Court,  a gentleman  well-known  for 
his  legal  acumen,  and  of  wide  reputation  as  an  honorable  and 
upright  judge.  The  affection  existing  between  the  brother  and 
sister  is  very  marked,  each  being  deservedly  proud  of  the  other 
and  exulting  in  each  other’s  success. 


572 


MARY  J.  HOLMES. 


“ Tempest  and  Sunshine,”  which  was  very  well  received  as 
the  work  of  a young  author,  though  the  first  notice  she 
ever  saw  of  it  was  particularly  severe,  and  headed  “ A novel 
boiled  down.” 

Her  second  book,  “ English  Orphans,”  was  very  favor- 
ably noticed  in  the  North  American  Review,  and  although 
both  of  the  novels  were  published  by  the  house  of  D.  Ap- 
pleton & Co.,  neither  of  these  early  efforts  was  crowned  with 
the  success  which  has  attended  her  later  books.  The  next 
three  volumes  were  published  by  my  Auburn  successors, 
Miller,  Orton  & Co.,  all  meeting  with  a fair  sale. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  1863,  when  Mr.  G.  W. 
Carleton  became  the  publisher  of  the  author  of  “ Lena 
Rivers  ” and  “Meadow  Brook,”  that  the  sale  of  Mrs. 
Holmes*  books  began  to  reach  large  numbers,  and  her  pop- 
ularity and  success  became  so  marked. 

My  friend,  George  W.  Alexander,  now  the  oldest  book- 
binder in  New  York,  tells  me  he  has  frequently  had  orders 
from  the  publisher,  to  bind  fifty  thousand  volumes  of  her 
novels  at  one  time. 

Up  to  1884  Carleton  & Co.  have  published  for  Mrs. 
Holmes,  twenty-two  different  works,  the  aggregate  sales  of 
which  have  been  something  immense. 

Mrs.  Holmes  receives  from  contributions  to  the  New 
York  Weekly , a family  story-paper  published  by  Street  & 
Smith,  from  four  to  six  thousand  dollars,  according  to  the 
length  of  the  story,  before  it  is  issued  in  book-form  by 
Carleton  & Co. 

It  is  often  asked  why  Mrs.  Holmes*  novels  should  be  so 
exceedingly  popular ; undoubtedly,  the  secret  of  her  success 
arises  from  the  natural  way  in  which  she  tells  her  story, 
and  the  life-like  character  and  scenes  introduced  to  the 
reader.  She  aims  to  give  also,  and  I think  she  has  suc- 
ceeded, a pure  and  moral  tone  in  every  story  she  has  writ- 
ten. This  is  the  general  verdict  of  her  readers.  Mrs. 
Holmes  does  not  introduce  robberies,  murders  or  sensa- 
tional scenes,  nor  does  she  attack  social  evils  or  write  up 


MARY  J.  HOLMES. 


573 


some  great  disputed  subject,  but  endeavors  to  produce 
such  stories  as  parents  are  willing  their  daughters  or  any 
members  of  their  family  should  read.  Mrs.  Holmes  thinks 
that  she  was  born  to  be  a writer  of  romance  ; or,  like  Topsy, 
she  growed  to  be  one.  As  far  back  as  she  can  remember, 
she  was  holding  converse  with  people  unseen,  yet  real  to 
her.  She  remembers  in  her  childhood,  when  creating  and 
inventing  stories,  of  hearing  it  said  of  her,  “that  child 
will  be  crazy  some  day.”  She  thinks  at  that  time,  that  the 
shadow  of  authorship  was  over  her. 

A school  friend  wrote  to  her  of  an  incident  which 
occurred  when  the  budding  authoress  was  about  ten  years 
old.  She  was  sitting  on  the  grass  one  summer  afternoon 
near  the  old  school-house,  where  she  learned  her  lessons, 
talking  with  other  little  girls,  her  schoolmates,  about  what 
she  intended  to  do  when  she  grew  up.  She  said  she  would 
write  a book,  and  when  the  girls  laughed  and  jeered  at  her 
she  grew  more  earnest  and  insisted  on  her  assertion,  saying 
she  should  write  a book  and  all  of  them  would  read  it  too. 
Well,  the  book  was  written  and  all  of  the  then  schoolmates 
did  read  it,  as  well  the  others  which  followed  it. 

Mrs.  Holmes’  novels  are  sold  largely  by  the  newsboys  on 
the  steamboats  and  railroads.  She  remembers  that  one 
day,  while  traveling  on  the  cars,  and  occupying  the  same 
seat  with  a lady,  a juvenile  bookseller  offered  them  Mrs. 
Holmes’  latest  and  most  popular  work.  The  lady  sitting 
by  her,  a stranger  to  her,  said  to  her,  that  “ Mrs.  Holmes 
might  be  a very  popular  writer,  but  as  for  herself,  she  did 
not  think  much  of  her  as  an  author.” 

Mrs.  Holmes  resides  with  her  husband  at  Brockport, 
Hew  York,  in  a lovely  and  refined  home  surrounded  by  all 
that  can  make  life  pleasant  and  enjoyable. 

Her  pastor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Seibt,  has  kindly  furnished  me 
the  following  account  of  the  esteemed  authoress,  which  I 
am  sure  my  readers  will  be  glad  to  see  : — 

“ Aside  from  her  literary  qualifications  and  merits  as  an  au- 
thoress, Mrs.  Holmes  has  other  excellences  that  should  be  put  on 


574 


MARY  J.  HOLMES. 


record  in  a description  of  her  life.  The  esteem  and  affection  in 
which  she  is  held  by  those  who  have  come  directly  under  her  in- 
fluence, and  who  have  observed  her  every  day  life,  show  that  she 
possesses  in  a high  degree,  those  Christian  graces  and  virtues 
which  alone  give  lustre  to  mental  accomplishments.  Her  relations 
to  society  are  marked  by  undeviating  correctness  and  suavity;  and 
while  she  prefers  the  quiet  of  home  life,  and  is  fond  of  spending 
her  evenings  in  her  own  favorite  room — the  library —conversing 
with  and  listening  to  the  reading  of  her  accomplished  husband, 
a gentleman  of  profound  and  varied  learning,  she  is  ever  ready  to 
open  her  pleasant  home,  for  social  gatherings,  whenever  occasion 
requires,  and  those  who  have  had  the  pleasure  of  attending  the 
receptions  and  entertainments  which  are  given,  from  time  to  time 
at  the  Brown  cottage — the  name  by  which  her  residence  is  known 
— are  invariably  struck  with  her  refined  and  affable  manners,  and 
with  the  quiet  dignity  and  ease  with  which  she  maintains  the 
position  of  hostess.  Another  prominent  trait  of  her  character  is 
her  benevolence. 

“ For  many  years  she  has  made  it  a rule  to  devote,  at  least,  the 
tenth  part  of  her  income  to  charitable  purposes.  Her  name  is 
found  among  the  active  members  and  liberal  supporters  of  some 
of  the  most  valuable  public  institutions;  the  cause  of  missions  is 
always  near  her  heart,  and  the  parish  to  which  she  belongs  is 
greatly  indebted  to  her  generous  gifts  for  its  prosperous  condition. 
Her  piety  is  deep,  serene  and  unostentatious,  and  the  aliment  on 
which  it  feeds  is  the  word  of  God.  She  nourishes  and  cherishes  it, 
by  daily  intercourse  with  heaven,  and  by  her  faithful  and  constant 
attendance  at  the  services  of  the  sanctuary.  For  many  years  she 
has  had  charge  of  the  infant  class  of  the  Sunday-school,  and  her  in- 
struction and  example  have  exerted  an  influence  for  good,  not 
only  upon  the  pupils,  but  also  upon  the  congregation  at  large, 
which  it  is  impossible  to  over-estimate. 

“May  her  life  be  long  spared;  and  may  many  who  shall  read 
these  lines,  be  induced  to  copy  the  lovely  character  and  Christian 
virtues  of  Mary  J.  Holmes.” 


XXXVIII. 


ALFRED  S.  BARNES. 

Friendship  of  Half  a Century — Singular  Coincidences — 
Young  Barnes  finds  a New  Horne — Begins  his  Book 
Career — Professor  Charles  Davies — Begins  as  a School- 
Book  Canvasser — Becomes  a Large  Publisher — His 
Motto — “ Good  Books  Only  ” — A Successf  ul  Book 
House — Retires  from  Active  Business — A Silver  Wed- 
ding. 

rjPHE  friendship  for  nearly  half  a century  which  has 
-A-  existed  between  the  subject  of  this  sketch  and  my- 
self, is  fraught  with  many  pleasant  memories.  It  may 
not  be  out  of  place  for  me  to  refer  to  some  singular 
coincidences  in  our  respective  lives.  Mr.  Barnes  and 
myself  began  our  book  life  about  the  same  time  fifty  years 
ago,  each  of  us  was  placed  in  the  business,  which  was  to 
be  our  life-work,  through  the  influence  of  our  devoted 
Christian  mothers  in  securing  us  a home  in  the  families  of 
our  respective  employers.  We  were  married  about  the 
same  time,  and  each  were  blessed  with  ten  children,  five 
boys  and  five  girls  ; both  of  us  have  met  with  the  great- 
est of  all  losses  in  the  death  of  the  mothers  of  our  chil- 
dren,— and  there  the  parallel  ends. — At  the  age  of  sixteen, 
young  Barnes  secured  a position  as  clerk  in  the  book  pub- 
lishing house  of  D.  F.  Robinson  & Co.,  Hartford,  Conn., 
where  the  late  Henry  Z.  Pratt  was  chief  clerk  ; this  house  at 
that  time  were  the  largest  school-book  publishers  in  America. 
Mr.  Barnes  well  remembers  the  first  day  when  he  com- 
menced his  career.  The  senior  partner,  Mr.  Robinson,  a 

[575] 


576 


ALFRED  S.  BARNES. 


man  of  fine  personal  appearance,  eminent  Christian  char- 
acter and  excellent  business  habits,  took  young  Barnes  one 
side  and  gave  him  some  hints  and  practical  advice  in  re- 
gard to  a clerk’s  duties  and  the  formation  of  character, 
which  were  invaluable  to  him.  He  spoke  of  the  unlimited 
extent  of  the  growing  book  business,  and  the  prospect  of 
its  future  in  this  country,  which  greatly  inspired  the  young 
clerk’s  ambition.  Mr.  Robinson  impressed  him  with  the 
fact, — which  afterwards  proved  true  in  his  case, — that  all 
a young  man  needed  for  success  in  life  was  good  principles, 
strict  integrity  of  character,  a faithful  discharge  of  duty 
in  life,  and  an  interest  in  his  employer’s  business.  Young 
Barnes’  salary  for  the  first  year  was  fixed  at  thirty  dollars, 
he  to  live  with  Mr.  Robinson’s  family,  and  he  well  remem- 
bers the  kindly  manner  in  which  he  was  received  by  the 
wife  of  his  employer,  who  took  an  affectionate  interest  in 
him,  treating  him  with  all  the  attention  a son  could  ask  of 
a mother,  and  it  is  pleasing  to  record  the  fact  that  the 
lady  now  in  her  eighty- third  year  retains  the  same  friendly 
interest  in  Mr.  Barnes,  with  whom  she  is  a constant  corres- 
pondent. 

The  list  of  joublications  of  Robinson  & Co.,  embraced 
many  school-books  familiar  to  all  booksellers  of  forty  years 
ago,  Comstock’s  Philosophy,  Olney’s  Geography,  Daboll’s 
Arithmetic,  Murray’s  Grammar  and  Webster’s  Spelling 
Book.  All  have  been  superseded  by  modern  school  books 
except  the  latter.  The  house  removed  to  New  York  in 
1835  and  established  their  business  in  Pearl  street  opposite 
Holt’s,  now  the  United  States  Hotel,  under  the  firm  name 
of  Robinson,  Pratt  & Co.,  which  soon  became  one  of  the 
largest  book  jobbing  houses  in  the  country.  Here  it  was 
that  I purchased  the  first  bill  of  books,  on  my  first  trip  to 
New  York,  when  a clerk  for  H.  Ivison  & Co.,  then  of 
Auburn,  N.  Y.  At  this  place  and  time  Mr.  Barnes  and 
myself  first  met  and  formed  our  life-long  acquaintance. 

Soon  after  becoming  of  age,  Mr.  Barnes  received  a let- 
ter from  a friend  in  Hartford,  introducing  him  to  Profes- 


ALFRED  S.  BARNES. 


577 


sor  Charles  Davies,  an  American  mathametician  of  distinc- 
tion at  that  time,  but  whose  reputation  was  destined  to  be- 
come national  as  author  of  the  most  celebrated  series 
of  mathematical  text  books  ever  published  in  this  country. 
This  introduction  led  to  closer  business  relations  for  nearly 
forty  years,  and  was  the  beginning  of  an  arrangement  for 
the  publication  of  school  books,  which  carried  the  young- 
publisher  to  fame  and  fortune.  Mr.  Barnes  first  established 
himself  in  the  publishing  business  in  the  city  of  Hartford, 
with  Professor  Davies  as  a partner,  in  a small  room  20  feet 
by  12,  and  here,  without  any  cash  capital,  the  nucleus  was 
formed  which  has  grown  into  the  present  immense  business. 
Mr.  Barnes  deserves  great  credit  for  his  early  and  indus- 
trious habits  in  introducing  his  school  books  to  the  atten- 
tion of  those  interested  in  education,  instead  of  school 
book  agents  (as  is  the  general  rule  nowadays  with  school 
book  publishers),  the  young  publisher  went  himself,  by 
private  conveyance  or  stage  coach,  with  a few  books  in  his 
trunk,  journeying  from  town  to  town,  actively  canvassing 
teachers  of  schools,  principals  of  academies  and  professors  in 
colleges,  for  the  purpose  of  introducing  Professor  Davies’ 
mathematics,  and  Mrs.  Willard’s  Histories.*  Although 
the  young  publisher’s  sales  in  this  way  were  not  very  exten- 
sive, they  laid  the  foundation  for  his  present  prosperous 
business. 

Two  years  later  Mr.  Barnes  moved  to  Philadelphia, 
where  in  1840  I met  him  again,  and  having  commenced 
business  on  my  own  account,  purchased  my  first  bill  of 
books  from  him,  he  having  at  that  time  become  a whole- 
sale dealer  in  the  publications  of  other  houses.  His  business 
in  Philadelphia  prospered,  but  believing  that  New  York 
offered  superior  advantages  for  his  growing  trade,  he  re- 
moved to  this  city  in  1845,  where  his  career  as  a successful 
publisher  has  been  uninterrupted,  although  the  panic  year 
of  1857  and  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  in  1861,  were  espec- 

* Mrs.  Willard’s  sister,  Almira  Lincoln  Phelps,  the  authoress, 
died  July  15th,  1884,  her  ninety-first  birthday. 

25 


578 


ALFRED  S.  BARNES. 


ially  trying,  the  strong  and  untarnished  credit  of  his  house, 
however  tided  them  over  both  of  these  exigencies.  Besides 
the  successful  publication  referred  to,  their  list  embraces, 
“Barnes*  Arithmetics  and  Algebra,**  “ Monteith’s  series 
of  Geography/*  “ Alphonso  Wood*s  series  of  Botany*’  and 
“ Worman*s  French,  German  and  Spanish  series.”  Of  “ Mc- 
Nally’s Geography,”  “ Clark’s  Grammar,”  “ Davies’ Arith- 
metic” and  “ Barnes*  United  States  History;”  the  phenom- 
enal sale  of  over  one  million  copies  of  each  is  the  best 
evidence  of  their  popularity.  The  firm  publish  but  few 
miscellaneous  books,  the  most  important  of  which  is 
“Martha  Lamb’s  History  of  the  City  of  New  York,”  an 
exhaustive  work,  the  product  of  twenty  years*  literary  ap- 
plication. George  Bancroft  says,  “ In  his  opinion  it  is  far 
the  best  work  yet  published  on  the  subject,  marked  by  good 
judgment,  honest  research  and  clear  and  attractive  style.” 
When  Mr.  Barpes  first  entered  the  business  life  of  a pub- 
lisher he  decided  in  his  own  mind  to  publish  “ Good 
hooks  only,”  and  he  has  adhered  to  that  principle.  Mr. 
Barnes  has  retired  from  active  business,  with  a compe- 
tency, leaving  the  affairs  of  his  house  in  charge  of  his  sons. 

In  a volume  published  in  Hartford  in  1870,  entitled, 
“ Men  of  Progress,”  I find  a chapter  on  Alfred  S.  Barnes, 
by  the  late  Professor  Charles  Davies,  who  knew  him  so 
long  and  well,  from  which  the  following  is  quoted  : 

“We  were  present  at  the  celebration  of  the  silver  wedding. 
The  parlors  were  tilled  with  pious  and  loving  friends,  merrily 
chatting  with  each  other,  when  suddenly  the  parlor  doors  were 
opened,  and  the  family,  led  by  their  parents,  came  in  to  greet 
and  cheer  us. 

“ We  shall  never  forget  that  beautiful  sight — the  sons  on  the 
one  side  with  their  father,  and  the  daughters  on  the  other  with 
their  mother,  and  one  grandchild,  like  a little  flower  just  appear- 
ing above  the  ground.  A clergyman  present  expressed  the  com- 
mon sentiment  of  us  all,  when  he  said  that  the  family  and  the 
scene  reminded  him  of  a sun-dial,  which  he  had  seen  in  an  Euro- 
pean city,  bearing  this  inscription  : 1 1 record  only  the  hours 


ALFRED  S.  BARNES. 


579 


that  are  pleasant.’  The  writer  is  not  insensible  to  the  sacred 
character  of  that  veil  which  hangs  around  the  domestic  circle, 
but  he  has  felt  that,  without  slightly  raising  it,  he  could  not  well 
explain  why  Mr.  Barnes  after  six  days  of  toil  in  the  counting 
room,  should  be  found  steadily  on  the  Sabbath  at  the  church  and 
Sunday  school.  Why,  in  the  days  of  short  receipts  as  well  as  in 
those  of  abundant  means,  he  had  always  something  to  spare  for 
religious  culture  and  the  churches,  and  why,  amid  a press  of  busi- 
ness in  New  York  he  has  found  time  to  do  his  whole  duty  to  the 
city  of  Brooklyn  where  he  has  long  and  permanently  resided.  He 
has  meant  to  raise  it  only  so  far  as  is  necessary  to  the  fulness  of 
truth  and  history.  No  account  of  the  house  of  A.  S.  Barnes  & 
Co.,  would  be  intelligible  without  some  knowledge  of  the  motives 
and  inner  springs  that  have  contributed  so  largely  to  its  success.” 

I was  present  with  Mrs.  Derby  at  the  interesting  gath- 
ering referred  to,  and  well  remember  the  happy  event, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barnes  having  attended  a like  occasion  on 
the  celebration  of  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  myself 
and  wife  the  month  previous. 

The  present  members  of  the  firm  are  : Alfred  S.  Barnes, 
and  his  sons  Alfred  C.,  Henry  B.,  Edwin  M.,  and  his 
nephew  Charles  J.  Barnes,  under  the  style  of  A.  S.  Barnes 
& Co.  The  two  youngest  sons,  Richard  S.  and  William  D. 
L.,  are  also  in  the  business.  The  senior  son  has  recently 
been  elected  Colonel  of  the  Thirteenth  Regiment,  N.  G. 
S.  N.  Y.,  a place  most  fittingly  earned  by  him  by  his 
military  experience  and  services. 


XXXIX. 

VETERAN  PUBLISHERS  ON  RETIRED  LIST. 


CHAELES  S.  FEANOIS. 

A Boole  Publisher  Eighty  years  old — A famous  Boston 
house — Shakespeare  Works  and  “ Mother  Goose  ” — Be 
Witt  Clinton , Aaron  Burr  and  Audubon — A thousand- 
dollar  publication — Southern  planters  buy  expensive 
books — “A  new  home,  ivho’ll  follow ” — A notable  Book- 
sellers’ Festival — “ Isay  Mister,  I guess  you’re  stuck!” 
— Washington  Irving’s  famous  Speech — Mr.  Francis 
gives  a Toast. 

\ BOOK  publisher  who  has  lived  fourscore  years  and 
has  been  connected  with  the  selling  of  books  for 
nearly  three-score  years  and  ten,  may  be  termed  a rara 
avis,  and  yet  such  are  the  facts  of  the  case  in  the  person  of 
my  venerable  friend  Charles  S.  Francis,  who  is  still  men- 
tally and  physically  active  and  ever  ready  to  supply  the 
“ best  books  only  ” to  needy  book-buyers. 

Mr.  Francis,  now  in  his  eightieth  year,  is  without  doubt, 
the  oldest  bookseller  in  continuous  business  in  America. 
Crocker  & Brewster  of  Boston,  who  retired  from  business 
with  a competence  some  years  since,  are  older  men,  and 
the  venerable  Isaac  C.  Lea,  formerly  Lee  & Blanchard, 
Philadelphia,  who  long  since  retired  from  business,  still 
lives  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-two. 

Charles  S.  Francis  is  a son  of  the  late  David  Francis  of 
[580] 


CHARLES  S.  FRANCIS. 


581 


the  old  and  well  known  firm  of  Mnnroe  & Francis,  who 
were  eminent  publishers  in  Boston  in  the  early  part  of  the 
present  century.  They  were  the  first  publishers  of  Shake- 
speare’s works  in  this  country  the  type  for  three  differ- 
ent editions  of  which  was  set  up  with  their  own  hands. 
They  were  also  the  first  American  publishers  of  the  famous 
“ Mother  Goose  Melodies/’  another  illustration  of  the 
axiom  that  “ there  is  but  one  step  from  the  sublime  to  the 
ridiculous.” 

Mr.  Charles  S.  Francis  learned  the  mysteries  of  the 
trade  of  bookselling  and  book  publishing  from  the  firm 
of  Monroe  & Francis,  and  established  himself  in  New 
York  in  1826,  at  which  time  he  was  twenty-one  years  of 
age, — and  where  for  half  a century  his  name  has  been 
familiar  to  the  book-buying  community.  Although  not 
now  in  active  business,  Mr.  Francis  can  occasionally  be 
seen  at  the  bookstore  of  his  brother  D.  G.  Francis  in  Astor 
Place.  My  first  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Francis  commenced 
in  1840,  when  I purchased  from  him  a supply  of  his  then 
well  known  publications. 

The  bookstore  of  Mr.  Francis  in  Broadway  was  the  pop- 
ular resort  of  many  noted  people  of  literary  tastes.  Among 
his  customers  were  Be  Witt  Clinton,  Aaron  Burr  and  John 
James  Audubon,  for  the  latter  of  whom  he  was  the  New 
York  publisher  of  his  great  works  on  Natural  History,  of 
which  “ The  Birds  of  America”  was  the  most  important, 
containing  four  hundred  and  thirty-five  plates  of  birds, 
showing  their  natural  size  and  colors,  making  four  volumes 
elipliant  folio,  the  price  being  one  thousand  dollars  per 
copy.  As  a matter  of  course,  works  of  such  magnitude  were 
of  necessity  at  that  time  manufactured  in  Great  Britain. 
This  work  was  sold  by  subscription,  the  largest  sales  were 
in  the  South,  the  planters  being  large  buyers  of  expensive 
books  in  the  old  plantation  days.  Audubon  died  at  Audu- 
bon-Park-on-the-Hudson,  where  his  sons  resided. 

Mr.  Francis  was  also  the  publisher  of  the  works  of  Wil- 
liam Ellery  Channing,  William  Ware,  whose  “ Zenobia  ” 


582 


CHAELES  S.  FKANCIS. 


was  so  popular ; also  the  sermons  of  Rev.  Orville  Dewey 
and  Rev.  Henry  W.  Bellows,  all  of  whom  were  authors  of 
Unitarian  books.  Mr.  Francis’  store  was  the  headquarters 
of  that  denomination,  a very  natural  consequence,  as  he 
was  christened  by  Rev.  William  E.  Emerson,  a prominent 
Unitarian  clergyman,  and  the  father  of  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson. 

Another  of  Mr.  Francis’  popular  authors  in  those  days 
was  the  late  Caroline  M.  Kirkland,  whose  4<r  A New  Home, 
who’ll  Follow,”  a very  clever  book,  giving  an  account  of 
her  sojourn  in  the  Western  wilds,  was  so  well  received  by 
the  literary  public. 

Mrs.  Kirkland,  as  many  of  my  readers  will  remember, 
occupied  a well  deserved  place  in  American  literature.  In 
1848,  while  sojourning  in  London,  the  Union  Magazine , of 
which  she  was  the  editor,  was  suspended,  very  much  to  her 
surprise.  It  was  at  that  time  jointly  published  by  John 
Sartain,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Israel  Post,  of  New  York.  In 
a letter  to  Mr.  Francis,  dated  London,  September  7th,  1848, 
she  says  : “ My  little  world  has  been  turned  upside  down, 
as  I hear — the  Union  is  dissolved  for  Sartain!  and  lam  — 
nowhere.  This  is  delightful  to  return  to  England  from 
the  Continent,  to  find  one’s  office  gods  shivered  against 
a post” 

Mr.  Francis  is  full  of  interesting  reminiscences  of  auth- 
ors and  publishers.  In  an  old  number  of  the  New  York 
American  which  he  has  preserved,  dated  April  3d,  1837, 
eight  columns  are  devoted  to  an  account  of  the  booksellers’ 
dinner,  a complimentary  entertainment  given  by  the  New 
York  book  trade  to  authors  and  men  of  letters,  and  to 
publishers  and  booksellers  from  Boston  and  Philadelphia, 
at  the  City  Hotel,  on  the  30th  of  the  previous  month.  The 
entertainers  with  their  guests  numbered  about  three  hund- 
red. Among  the  eminent  men  were,  John  Trumbull,  Albert 
Gallatin,  Chancellor  Kent,  J.  K.  Paulding,  Fitz  Greene 
Halleck  and  William  Cullen  Bryant.  The  committee  of 
arrangements  on  behalf  of  the  New  York  Trade,  were 


CHARLES  S.  FRANCIS. 


583 


David  Felt,  Fletcher  Harper,  George  Dearborn,  William 
Jackson,  John  Keese,  H.  Z.  Pratt,  George  B.  Collins,  Wil- 
liam Robinson,  and  George  P.  Putnam.  John  Keese  the 
witty  book  publisher — afterwards  trade-sale  auctioneer, — 
gave  the  address  of  welcome  which  was  enthusiastically 
received.  Among  other  toasts  was  the  following  from 
Samuel  T.  Armstrong,  at  that  time  the  oldest  bookseller  in 
Boston. 

“ The  booksellers  of  New  York  : liberal,  enterprising 
and  prosperous.  May  prosperity  still  wait  on  their  enter- 
prise, and  enterprise  follow  prosperity  ” 

The  toast,  after  repeated  calls,  was  responded  to  by 
James  Harper,  as  follows  : 

He  said  he  was  at  a loss  to  know  why  he  should  be  singled 
out  to  respond  to  the  compliment  of  Governor  Armstrong,  as 
there  were  many  of  the  trade  present  greatly  his  seniors.  Be- 
sides, it  was  well  known  to  his  brethren,  that  he  was  no  orator — 
that  it  was  entirely  out  of  his  line  to  make  speeches — that  he  was 
simply  an  humble  maker  of  books — and  that  this  alone  was  his  pro- 
fession. Therefore,  although  the  subject  and  the  occasion  were 
of  a highly  prolific  character — still  he  should  not  attempt  a speech 
for  if  he  should,  he  would  assuredly  find  himself  in  the  dilemma 
of  a certain  Massachusetts  orator,  who,  while  addressing  a public 
assembly,  unfortunately  lost  the  thread  of  his  discourse,  and, 
hesitating  to  recover  his  lost  ideas,  was  addressed  from  the  gal- 
lery by  a raw  country  lad,  “ I say,  Mister,  I guess  you’re  stuck!” 
And  Mr.  President  (added  Mr.  H.,  after  a pause),  so  am  I! 

The  most  remarkable  incident  of  the  occasion  was  the 
remarks  made  by  Washington  Irving,  probably  the  longest 
address  on  record  from  that  author. 

Mr.  Washington  Irving  being  called  upon  for  a toast, 
rose  and  said,  that  he  meant  to  propose  the  health  of  an 
individual  whom  he  was  sure  all  present  would  delight  to 
honor — of  Samuel  Rogers,  the  poet. 

“ Mr.  Irving  observed,  that  in  a long  intimacy  with  Mr. 
Rogers,  he  had  ever  found  him  an  enlightened  and  liberal 


584 


CHARLES  S.  FRANCIS. 


friend  of  America  and  Americans.  Possessing  great  influence  in 
the  world  of  literature  and  the  fine  arts  in  Great  Britian,  from  his 
acknowledged  soundness  of  judgment  and  refinement  of  taste,  he 
had  often  exerted  it  in  the  kindliest  and  most  gracious  manner,  in 
fostering,  encouraging  and  bringing  into  notice  the  talents  of 
youthful  American  artists.  He  had  also  manifested  on  all  occa- 
sions the  warmest  sympathy  in  the  success  of  American  writers, 
and  the  promptest  disposition  to  acknowledge  and  point  out  their 
merits.  I am  led  to  these  remarks,”  added  Mr.  Irving,  “ by  a letter 
received  yesterday  from  Mr.  Rogers,  acknowledging  the  receipt  of 
a volume  of  Halleck’s  poems  which  I had  sent  to  him,  and  expres- 
sing his  opinion  of  their  merits.”  Mr.  Irving  here  read  the  folio-w- 
ing extract  from  the  letter: 

“ ‘ With  Mr.  Halleck’s  poems,  I was  already  acquainted — par- 
ticually  with  the  two  first  in  the  volume;  and  I cannot  say  how 
much  I admired  them  always.  They  are  better  than  anything  we 
can  do  just  now  on  our  side  the  Atlantic.  (Hear,  hear  !)  I hope 
he  will  not  be  idle,  but  continue  long  to  delight  us.  When  he 
comes  here  again,  he  must  not  content  himself  with  looking  on  the 
outside  of  my  house,  as  I am  told  he  did  once — but  knock  and 
ring,  and  ask  for  me  as  for  an  old  acquaintance.  (Cheers.)  I 
should  say,  indeed  if  I am  here  to  be  found — for  if  he  or  you,  my 
dear  friends,  delay  your  coming  much  longer,  I shall  have  no  hope 
of  seeing  either  of  you  on  this  side  the  grave.’  ” 

“ (Mr.  Rogers  is  now  in  his  seventy-fifth  year,  and  has  recently 
been  much  out  of  health.)”* 

Mr.  Irving  concluded  by  giving  as  a toast  : 

“Samuel  Kogers — the  friend  of  American  genius.” 

In  looking  over  the  long  list  of  names  of  those  present 
at  this  festival,  I do  not  find  one  who  still  survives  with  the 
single  exception  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  whose  toast 
on  that  occasion  was  as  follows  : 

By  C.  S.  Francis.  “The  author  of  ‘ The  Linwoods  — 
in  the  midst  of  the  bright  lights  around  us,  let  us  not  for- 
get those  at  home”  f 

*Mr.  Rogers  died  in  1855,  at  the  age  of  ninety-three, 
t Referring  to  Catherine  M.  Sedgwick’s  new  book. 


J.  S.  REDFIELD. 


585 


J.  S.  REDFIELD. 

A nother  Veteran  of  the  Book  trade — William  Gilmore  Simms 
and  his  Romances — Rufus  W.  Griswold’s  frieyidly  aid 
to  Authors — Edgar  Allan  Poe  finds  a Publisher— -Red- 
field’s  defense  of  Griswold — “ Give  these  young  Scrib- 
blers Jesse  ” — Poe  tells  hoiv  he  wrote  the  “ Raven  ” — 
“You  have  more  Brass  in  New  York  than  we  in  Phil- 
delphia.  ” 

\ NOTHER  old-time  publisher  whose  name  was  well- 
known  in  the  book  world  fifty  years  ago,  still  lives, 
and,  like  Mr.  Francis,  can  interest  his  hearers  with  accounts 
of  the  notable  authors  be  has  met  and  whose  literary  pro- 
ductions bore  his  imprint  as  publisher. 

I refer  to  J.  S.  Redfield,  whose  list  of  publications  at 
one  time  included  the  works  of  William  Gilmore  Simms, 
Alice  Cary,  Caroline  Cheesebro,  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  Cornelius 
Matthews  and  many  other  American  authors. 

Mr.  Redfield’s  editions  of  the  novels  of  William  Gilmore 
Simms,  then  the  most  noted  of  Southern  authors,  are  now 
published  by  A.  C.  Armstrong  & Sons  in  seventeen  vol- 
umes. Mr.  Redfield  says  that  twenty  years  before  he  knew 
Mr.  Simms,  he  had  read  with  intense  interest  his  border 
stories,  “Yemasee,”  and  “ Guy  Rivers,”  also  “The  Parti- 
san/’ and  other  of  his  Revolutionary  romances,  and  this 
reading  influenced  him  to  undertake  the  republication  of 
the  works  of  that  notable  novelist.  Edgar  Allen  Poe  in  a 
review  of  one  of  Mr.  Simms,  “Martin  Faber,”  thus  speaks 
of  that  author  as  a writer  : 

“The  fiction  of  Mr.  Simms  gives  indication,  we  repeat,  of  genius, 
and  that  of  no  common  order.  Had  he  been  even  a Yankee,  this 
genius  would  have  been  rendered  immediately  manifest  to  his 
countrymen,  but  unhappily  (perhaps)  he  was  a Southerner,  and 
united  the  Southern  pride — the  Southern  dislike  to  the  making  of 
25* 


586 


J.  S.  REDFIELD. 


bargains — with  the  Southern  supineness  and  general  want  of  tact  in 
all  matters  relating  to  the  making  of  money.  His  book,  therefore, 
depended  entirely  upon  its  own  intrinsic  value  and  resources,  but 
with  these  it  made  its  way  in  the  end. 

“ The  ‘intrinsic  value,’  consists:  first,  of  a very  vigorous  imag- 
ination in  the  conception  of  the  story : secondly,  in  artistic  skill 
manifested  in  its  conduct:  thirdly,  in  general  vigor,  life,  move- 
ment— the  whole  resulting  in  deep  interest  on  the  part  of  the 
reader.  These  high  qualities  Mr.  Simms  has  carried  with  him  in 
his  subsequent  books,  and  they  are  qualities  which,  above  all 
others,  the  fresh  and  vigorous  intellect  of  America  should  and 
does  esteem.” 

Simms*  life  of  General  Francis  Marion,  a work  of  great 
historic  value,  was  published  by  my  firm  and  always  sold 
steadily  and  largely. 

Mr.  Redfield  was  the  first  Mew  York  publisher  for  Alice 
Cary.  A volume  of  her  poems  and  also  her  “ Clovernook  ” 
stories,  were  brought  to  him  by  Rufus  W.  Griswold,  who 
Mr.  Redfield  says,  not  only  prepared  the  copy  for  the  press 
but  read  the  proofs,  and,  through  his  painstaking  attention, 
all  of  her  works  as  they  appeared  were  well  noticed  by  the 
press  ; thus  much  of  her  earlier  literary  reputation  was  due 
to  Dr.  Griswold’s  friendly  services. 

Among  other  of  Mr.  Red  field’s  authors  was  the  late 
Caroline  Cheesebro,  who  has  written  some  very  excellent 
books  now  out  of  print.  None  of  her  volumes  proved  com- 
mercially a success,  although  she  ranked  well  among  the 
litterati  of  her  day.  Her  books  deserved  to  be  successful, 
but  literary  success  was  not  meted  out  to  her.  The  last 
two  productions  from  her  pen  were  published  by  my  firm. 

The  most  important  of  all  of  Mr.  Redfield’s  publica- 
tions, however  were  the  works  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe.  It 
was  also  through  Dr.  Griswold  that  he  was  induced  to 
undertake  the  publication  of  Poe’s  works,  now  one  of  the 
most  popular  authors  of  the  day.  Dr.  Griswold  had 
offered  the  works  to  nearly  all  the  leading  publishers,  who 
declined  to  undertake  the  publication.  He  finally  persua- 


J.  S.  EEDFIELD. 


587 


ded  Mr.  Kedfield  to  try  tlie  experiment  of  issuing  two 
volumes  first,  which  were  published  and  had  a fair  sale — 
then  the  third,  and  finally  the  fourth  volume  were  added 
to  complete  the  works.  The  sale  reached  about  fifteen 
hundred  sets  every  year.  The  copyright  was  paid  at  first 
to  Mr.  Poe,  and  after  his  death  to  his  mother-in-law,  Mrs. 
Clemm,  who  received  the  copyright  on  several  editions. 
She  came  to  Mr.  Redfield  one  day  in  a great  strait — saying 
she  was  going  to  Baltimore  to  enter  a home  for  aged 
females.  She  wanted  to  raise  two  hundred  and  fifty  dol- 
lars, and  if  he  would  let  her  have  that  amount,  she  would 
relinquish  all  claims  to  copyright.  Mr.  Kedfield  hesitated 
at  first,  but  finally  yielded  to  her  importunities  and  paid 
her  the  money,  thus  becoming  owner  of  the  copyright  as 
well  as  stereotype  plates  of  Poe's  complete  works.  Mrs. 
Clemm  removed  to  Baltimore,  where,  soon  after,  she  died. 

Mr.  Red  field's  successor,  the  late  W.  J.  Widdleton*  be- 
came the  owner  of  Poe’s  works,  and  subsequently  sold 
them  to  A.  C.  Armstrong  & Son,  who  are  now  the  publish- 
ers of  a new  and  revised  edition. 

Mr.  Redfield  thinks  great  injustice  has  been  done  by 
certain  critics  to  Rev.  Dr.  Griswold,  in  reflecting  upon  him 
as  Poe's  biographer. 

In  a recent  letter  to  me,  he  says  : “Griswold  never  re- 
ceived a cent  for  his  labors.  Poe  named  him  as  his  liter- 
ary executor,  shortly  before  he  died,  although  they  had 
quarreled  not  long  before.  Griswold's  labor  was  no  joke. 
Few  men  would  heve  undertaken  it  with  no  hope  of  reward. 
It  is  fashionable  now-a-days  to  throw  mud  at  him.  Know- 
ing as  I did,  both  of  the  men,  and  knowing  also  how  assid- 
uously Griswold  labored  to  say  everything  he  could  in  the 
biography  in  Poe's  favor,  it  is  very  annoying  to  read  these 
things.  The  matter  of  the  biography  was  all  read  over  to 
me,  talked  and  discussed  before  printing,  and  I know  he 
did  his  best  to  4 set  down  naught  in  malice.'  He  was 
obliged,  as  he  thought,  to  state  the  facts  in  all  cases,  and 
he  did  state  them,  favorably  as  he  could  to  Poe.  I knoiv 


588 


J.  S.  REDEIELD. 


lie  tried  to  do  so.  Now  he  is  accused  everywhere  by  people 
who  know  nothing  about  it,  of  vilely  slandering  Poe.  I 
had  a better  opportunity  than  anyone  else  to  know  all 
about  it,  and  I know  he  did  not.  If  I bad  not  entirely 
rusted  out  of  the  use  of  the  pen,  I should  like  to  write  a 
magazine  article  on  Griswold  and  Poe,  and  would  give 
these  young  scribblers  ‘ Jesse/  who  are  so  fond  of  throw- 
ing mud  at  Griswold  and  lauding  Poe.” 

Another  author  on  Mr.  Redfield’s  list  wTas  Cornelius 
Matthews,  who  was  the  editor  in  connection  with  the  late 
Evert  A.  Duyckinck,  of  a literary  magazine  of  consider- 
able merit  called  “ Arctur us,  a journal  of  Books  and  Opin- 
ion,” in  which  appeared  his  “ Career  of  Puffer  Hopkins,” 
afterwards  published  in  book  form.  Edgar  Allan  Poe, 
said  at  the  time,  of  “ Arcturus  ” : “ It  is  decidedly  the  very 
best  magazine  in  some  respects  ever  published  in  the 
United  States.”  Mr.  Matthews  also  was  the  author  of  some 
welhwritten  works  of  fiction  and  Indian  legendary  lore. 

Mr.  Matthews  knew  Mr.  Poe  very  well,  was  a personal 
friend,  and  often  saw  him  at  his  editorial  rooms,  as  well  as 
at  his  city  residence  and  his  home  in  Eordham,  of  which 
the  following  interesting  account  is  given  me  in  a recent 
letter  received  from  him. 

* * * * * * 

“ On  the  next  occasion  the  author  of  the  ‘Rue 
Morgue/  appeared  in  a different  light.  It  was  at  the  bed- 
side of  his  wife  Virginia,  his  cousin,  the  daughter  of  Mrs. 
Clemm,  then  lying  very  sick  in  their  chambers  on  East 
Broadway.  His  bearing  was  brave,  sympathetic  and  affec- 
tionate, that  of  the  gentleman  in  grief.” 

My  next  interview  with  this  singular  genius  had  a less 
serious  complexion.  He,  now  a widower,  settled  in  a little 
cottage  on  the  rocks  at  Fordham,  just  across  Harlem 
Bridge.  There  was  quite  a little  party  gathered  to  take 
tea  with  Poe  and  his  mother-in-law  and  aunt,  Mrs.  Clemm. 
When  we  were  summoned  into  the  supper-room  we  found 
to  the  open-eyed  wonder  of  the  company,  the  floor  laid 


J.  S.  REDFIELD. 


589 


with  a brand-new  rag  carpet,  an  ample  table,  sumptuous 
with  delicacies,  and  Mrs.  Clemm  at  the  head  of  the  table, 
decanting,  from  anew  silver-plated  urn,  amber  coffee,  which 
glowed  as  it  fell  in  the  light  of  the  setting  sun.  All  this 
was  in  strong  contravention  of  Poe’s  proclaimed  abject  pov- 
erty, unless  observers  had  brought  to  mind  that  the  equi- 
page represented  in  part  of  the  proceeds  of  a libel  suit 
collected  b^  the  poet  in  the  previous  week  from  Hiram 
Fuller,  editor  of  the  Evening  Mirror.  We  walked  about 
the  roads  after  supper  discoursing  on  one  subject  and  an- 
other, in  which  the  poet  took  part,  confining  himself  as 
usual  to  abstract  subjects  and  analytic  disquisitions.  Much 
as  he  had  traveled,  and  much  as  he  must  have  seen,  I never 
heard  an  anecdote  nor  personal  trait  nor  incident  or  cir- 
cumstance having  any  color  in  it  as  introduced  by  him. 

Another  occasion  in  keeping  with  Poe’s  character  was 
an  encounter  with  him  at  the  old  Olympic  Theatre  (Mitch- 
ell’s), emerging  from  which  together  after  the  play,  he 
invited  me  to  join  him  in  a stroll  down  Broadway.  We 
had  reached  a lamp-post  at  the  foot  of  the  City  Hall  Park, 
then  standing  on  the  site  of  the  present  post-office.  He 
brought  up  along  side  of  the  post,  and  embracing  it  par- 
tially, proceeded  to  give  me  the  history  of  the  “Raven,” 
which  was  then  beginning  to  command  attention  in  the 
literary  world.  The  explanation  was  substantially  this  : 
That  when  he  made  up  his  mind  to  write  a poem  that 
should  be  popular,  he  took  into  account  these  conditions. 
First,  it  must  be  of  such  length  as  to  be  embraced  at  one 
reading.  Secondly,  it  must  be  serious  and  sentimental, 
rather  than  light  and  romantic.  To  this  end  also,  the 
measure  should  be  rather  long  than  short.  In  the  next 
place,  it  must  have  a refrain  melodious  and  mournful.  The 
word  so  chosen  was  “Nevermore,”  beyond  which  in  the 
qualities  required,  no  word  in  the  language  could  go. 
Read  the  “ Raven,”  and  you  will  find  all  these  ingredients 
and  essentials  faithfully  provided.  And  now,  continued 
Mr.  Matthews,  we  have  announced  but  not  builded  a monu- 


590 


DANIEL  BIXBX. 


ment  to  be  erected  in  Central  Park,  to  “ That  illustrious 
poet,  Edgar  Allan  Poe.” 

Among  the  amusing  anecdotes  connected  with  the  hook 
trade,  Mr.  Redfield  relates  the  following  : 

Some  of  the  older  members  of  the  trade  will  have  plea- 
sant remembrances  of  the  late  John  Doyle,  an  Irish 
Catholic  publisher  and  bookseller,  who  did  business  in  the 
city  for  many  years.  He  was  a good  deal  of  a wag  and 
was  very  fond  of  a joke,  and  it  was  not  easy  to  get  ahead  of 
him.  When  he  and  Mayor  Harper  met,  the  sparks  used  to 
fly.  At  a trade-sale  in  Boston  years  ago,  which  was  at- 
tended generally  by  the  booksellers,  Doyle  among  the  rest, 
the  invoice  of  J.  B.  Lippincott,  was  begun  with  some  very 
elegant  family  Bibles,  in  superb  binding,  and  heavily-gilt 
clasps.  Some  one  bid  three  dollars  a piece.  “ Why,  gentle- 
men,” said  Lippincott’s  representative,  “ these  clasps 
alone  on  this  Bible  cost  five  dollars.”  Doyle  was  sitting 
directly  in  front  of  the  auctioneer's  stand.  He  got  up  and 
examined  the  Bible  and  stamps,  and  says  : “ Why,  Mr. 
Lippincott,  we  can  buy  such  stamps  as  these  in  New  York 
for  two  dollars  and  a half  !”  “Yes,  Mr.  Doyle,”  was  the 
reply,  “ but  you  know,  you  have  more  brass  in  New  York 
than  we  have  in  Philadelphia.”  The  roar  that  shook  that 
salesroom  made  the  welkin  ring,  and  Doyle  subsided. 


DANIEL  BIXBY. 


A Publisher  can  keep  a Hotel — A famous  literary  Resort — 
Fenimore  Cooper's  city  Home — Fitz  Greene  Halleck , 
and  the  Astors — Interesting  Letter  to  Bixby — He  meets 
London  Celebrities — “ You  see  him  before  you  now” 
— Bixby' s quiet  Retirement. 


nPHE  problem  was  solved  more  than  thirty  years  ago,  that 
^ a good  man  could  publish  good  books,  and  also  keep 
a good  hotel. 

Daniel  Bixby  had  twenty-two  years'  experience  in  the 


DANIEL  BIXBY. 


591 


bookselling  business  at  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  before  he 
removed  to  New  York.  While  a bookseller  in  the  former 
place  he  published  Cousin's  “Philosophy  of  the  Beautiful," 
Southey's  “ Chronicles  of  the  Cid,"  Goethe's  “ Correspon- 
dence with  a Child"  and  “Faust,"  the  last  named  from  the 
prose  translation  of  Abraham  Hayward,  whose  recent  death 
in  London  at  an  advanced  age,  has  been  widely  noted. 
This  edition  is  now  published  by  James  R.  Osgood  & Co., 
and  I believe  is  the  only  prose  translation  of  that  great 
German  writer. 

I once  asked  Mr.  Bixby  how  he  came  to  begin  the  pub- 
lication of  such  choice  books  in  a country  town. 

He  replied,  that  his  own  tastes  were  in  that  direction, 
and  that  he  had  some  literary  friends,  who  wanted  him  to 
publish  something  that  no  other  bookseller  had  done  or 
would  do. 

The  publication  of  those  volumes  was  so  successful,  that 
he  determined  to  remove  to  New  York,  and  continue  the 
publishing  business  on  a larger  scale. 

Removing  to  the  city  and  not  finding  a suitable  location 
Mr.  Bixby  was  offered  at  a great  bargain  the  lease  of  a 
hotel  at  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Park  Place,  and,  al- 
though he  had  no  experience  whatever  in  that  line,  he  ac- 
cepted the  offer  with  the  determination  to  make  it  not  only 
a good  hoted  but  an  inviting  resort  for  his  bookselling 
friends. 

Bixby's  Hotel,  as  many  of  my  readers  will  remember, 
became  the  favorite  resort  of  publishers,  booksellers  and 
authors.  Often  in  the  large  parlors  of  the  hotel,  many  of 
the  literary  celebrities  would  congregate  to  discuss  the 
topics  of  the  day. 

Among  others,  J.  Fenimore  Cooper,  Fitz  Greene  Hal- 
leck,  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes,  George  P.  Morris,  N.  P.  Willis,  Bayard 
Taylor,  Rufus  Griswold,  and  Alice  and  Phoebe  Cary,  the 
latter  three  residing  there  during  the  first  year  of  Mr. 
Bixby's  hotel  experience. 


592 


DANIEL  BIXBY. 


J.  Fenimore  Cooper  was  a very  peculiar  man  about  his 
hotel  accommodations.  His  son-in-law,  Henry  F.  Phinney 
— afterwards  of  the  firm  of  Ivison  & Phinney — called  one 
day  to  see  Mr.  Bixby  concerning  accommodations  for  his 
father-in-law,  who,  he  said,  was  a very  difficult  person 
to  suit  when  away  from  home,  because  of  his  exacting 
requirements.  Mr.  Bixby  told  Mr.  Phinney  that  when 
Mr.  Cooper  came  to  his  hotel,  his  own  room  would  always 
be  at  his  disposal,  so  that  he  could  always  depend  on  hav- 
ing the  same  apartments.  Mr.  Cooper  always  felt  at  home 
at  Bixby’s  Hotel,  and  his  presence  there  was  pleasant,  agree- 
able, and  delightful.  He  received  many  calls  from  the  lit- 
terati  of  New  York  and  vicinity  soon  as  his  arrival  in  the 
city  became  known. 

When  Hawthorne  came  there  he  was  generally  accom- 
panied by  either  W.  D.  Ticknor  or  James  T.  Fields.  He 
left  Bixby^s  Hotel  on  the  morning  of  his  departure  for 
Europe  to  assume  the  lucrative  position  of  United  States 
Consul  at  Liverpool,  to  which  he  had  been  appointed  by 
his  classmate  at  college,  Franklin  Pierce,  then  President 
of  the  United  States. 

Fitz  Greene  Halleck  was  a constant  guest  and  was  very 
fond  of  that  part  of  the  city.  Every  day  after  breakfast, 
and  again  after  dinner  at  the  hotel,  he  would  go  down  to 
Bowling  Green,  there  to  meet  his  old  acquaintances.  At 
that  time  he  was  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Astor  Library, 
and  always  spoke  very  kindly  of  its  founder,  and  of  his  son, 
William  B.  Astor,  and  in  the  warmest  terms  of  the  pleas- 
ant relations  they  held  towards  each  other. 

Mr.  Bixby  remained  in  the  locality  referred  to,  nine 
years,  when  he  removed  his  hotel  up  town  to  the  corner  of 
Broadway  and  Eleventh  Street.  Mr.  Halleck’s  home  at 
that  time  was  in  Guilford,  Connecticut,  and  that  he  did  not 
take  readily  to  Mr.  Bixby’s  change  of  locality  may  be  seen 
from  the  following  letter,  of  which  Mr.  Bixby  has  favored 
me  with  a copy. 


DANIEL  BIXBY. 


593 


“Guildford,  Connecticut, 
“ May  3rd,  1858. 


“My  Dear  Mr.  Bixby: 

“ On  my  return  home  I am  favored  with  the  circular  announc- 
ing your  intention  of  taking  for  your  establishment  a more  aristo- 
cratic position,  and  placing  it  among  the  ‘Upper  ten.1  I take 
pleasure  for  your  sake  in  congratulating  you  upon  this  removal, 
and  I hope  and  trust  that  it  will  be  advantageous  to  you  in  all 
respects.  Still,  for  my  own  sake,  I cannot  but  regret  it,  fori  fear 
that  you  will  be  too  far  * up’  for  my  purpose  while  I am  a visitor 
in  your  city,  and  I am  certain  to  be  the  loser  of  a good  home 
which  your  old  and  favorite  house  has  so  often  and  so  agreeably 
proved  itself  to  be  for  me  during  the  seven  or  eight  years  past. 

“The  experience  of  our  late  friend,  Mr.  Cooper,  the  novelist, 
which  preceded  mine,  enabled  him  to  recommend  it  highly  to  me, 
and  he  as  you  know  had  a very  high  standard  of  domestic  com- 
fort, and  never  willingly  overpraised  anything;  and  my  own  ex- 
perience has  most  pleasantly  confirmed  his  opinion  of  its  merits. 

“Allow  we  to  add  that  I feel  greatly  indebted  to  your  per- 
sonal courtesy,  for  frequent  introductions  to  the  gentlemen,  your 
guests,  among  whom  I am  now  proud  to  number  many  of  my  most 
valuable  acquaintances. 

“Repeating  best  wishes  for  your  perfect  success  in  your  new 
enterprise,  1 beg  you  to  believe  me,  my  dear  sir, 

“ Truly  yours, 

“ Fitz  Greene  Halleck.” 


In  1841,  tli g year  after  Mr.  Bixby’s  publication  of 
Hayward's  “ Faust,"  he  took  with  him  to  London,  a letter  of 
introduction  from  Charles  Sumner,  to  the  translator.  Mr. 
Hayward  received  him  very  cordially,  introducing  him  to 
many  distinguished  persons,  among  others,  the  banker  poet, 
Rogers,  who  entertained  Mr.  Bixby  at  breakfast. 

On  another  occasion,  Mr.  Bixby  called  with  the  cele- 
brated publisher,  Henry  C.  Bohn,  with  whom  he  had 
long  been  on  friendly  terms.  The  latter  was  very  anx- 
ious to  meet  George  Bancroft,  then  representing  the 
United  States  at  the  court  of  St.  James.  Mr.  Bibxy 
introduced  the  publisher  to  the  historian  and  diplomat. 
The  visit  was  a memorable  one,  as  Mr.  Bixby  met  there 
Hallam  and  Alison,  the  great  historians,  and  also  had  the 


594 


DANIEL  BIXBY. 


good  fortune  to  see  the  original  manuscript  of  Woodfall’s 
“ J unius,”  which  the  publisher’s  grandson  had  brought  with 
him  to  show  to  Mr.  Bancroft,  and  these  pages,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  were  examined  with  curious  interest. 

Soon  after  James  Russell  Lowell  was  appointed  United 
States  Minister  to  Great  Britain,  Mr.  Bixby  called  upon  him 
with  a note  of  introduction  from  a mutual  friend.  Mr.  Low- 
ell during  their  conversation  said  to  Mr.  Bixby,  “ There  was 
a gentleman  of  your  name  who  published  Hayward’s  tran- 
slation of  Faust,  in  Lowell,  forty  years  ago,  whom  I would 
very  much  like  to  meet,  to  thank  him  for  the  good 
work  he  did  to  the  literary  world  at  that  time,  in  bringing 
out  that  volume. — “Well,”  replied  Mr.  Bixby,  “if  it 
would  prove  any  gratification  to  you  to  meet  that  gentle- 
men, you  see  him  before  you  now.” 

Mr.  Bixby  has  resided  in  quiet  retirement  for  many 
years,  at  the  Hew  York  Hotel,  in  this  city,  spending  his 
summer  months,  however,  in  Europe. 


XL 


RICHARD  HENRY  STODDARD. 

Mary  Russell  Mitford’s  Tribute — Writes  for  Jack  Down- 
ing’s “ Tover  ” — Finds  a Friend  in  JST.  P.  Willis — 
Meets  a JFriend  in  Bayard  Taylor — “ I am  he  ” — “ My 
name  is  Stoddard  ”■ — Stoddard  receives  his  first  Ten 
Dollars — Prints  a Book  and  sells  two  Copies — Baron 
Humboldt  and  Bayard  Taylor — Loves  and  Heroines 
of  the  Poets — Oliver  B.  Bunce  and  “ Don’t” — Wittiest 
Woman  in  America — Distinguished  Compliment  from 
Bryant — The  Wife  of  a Poet. 

TN  one  of  Mary  Russell  Mitford’s  letters  to  the  late 
■*-  James  T.  Fields,  she  says  : “ Mr.  Stoddard  is  one  of  the 
poets  of  whom  America  may  well  be  proud. ”*  This  was 
said  more  than  thirty  years  ago,  soon  after  Ticknor,  Reed 
& Fields  had  published  his  first  volume  of  poems.  America 
is  proud  of  Mr.  Stoddard’s  poetical  talents,  and  no  critic  of 
authority  will  deny  that  that  writer  possesses  the  true  po- 
etic gift  of  imaginative  composition. 

Beginning  at  an  early  age  to  write  verses,  his  first  printed 
contribution  in  rhyme  appeared  in  1843,  when  about  nine- 
teen years  old,  in  the  Rover , a literary  paper,  edited  by 
Seba  Smith,  himself  a poet, — author  of  “ Pocahontas,” 

*“I  dined,  the  other  day,  with  dear  old  Miss  Mitford,  who 
has  your  book;  but  it  is  always  lent  to  somebody  or  other  and 
liked  by  all,  which  should  encourage  you,  for  their  judgment  on 
your  poems,  is  like  that  of  posterity.” — Bayard  Taylor"1  s Letter  to 
Stoddard . 


[595] 


596 


RICHARD  HENRY  STODDARD. 


published  about  that  time  by  Harper  & Brothers.  (Mr. 
Smith  is  better  known  as  the  author  of  the  celebrated 
“ Major  Jack  Downing  Letters,”  which  were  so  famous  forty 
years  ago,  and  of  which  Lord  Brougham  once  said  : “ The 
Jack  Downing  humor  is  the  irony  of  a statesman.”)*  Mr. 
Stoddard  says,  Mr.  Smith  was  a success  as  a delineator  of 
Yankee  humor  but  the  Hover  was  not. 

Soon  after  this  Mr.  Stoddard  took  to  N.  P.  Willis  a few 
manuscript  poems,  and  asked  if  he  would  be  kind  enough 
to  read  them  and  write  his  opinion.  Some  weeks  later  the 
young  poet  called  at  the  office  of  the  Home  Journal , where 
he  found  a note  from  Mr.  Willis,  which  read  as  follows  : 
“I  should  think  the  writer  of  these  poems  had  genius 
enough  to  make  a reputation.  Pruning,  trimming  and 
condensing  is  necessary  to  make  them  what  they  should 
be  ; the  same  labor  was  necessary  to  Lord  Byron^s  genius, 
and  that  of  Tom  Moore.  It  is  hard  work  to  do,  but  well 
paid  when  done.” 

These  words  were  the  first  real  encouragement  that  he 
had  ever  received,  and  Mr.  Stoddard  further  says,  that  no 
young  person  possessing  any  kind  of  talent  ever  appealed 
to  N.  P.  Willis  without  receiving  aid  and  encouragement. 
When  Bayard  Taylor,  who  was  always  a favorite  with  Mr. 
Willis,  returned  from  Europe,  the  first  time,  he  took  the 
letters  which  he  had  written  to  a Philadelphia  paper  to 
Wiley  & Putnam  to  publish  in  book  form,  and  that  firm 
agreed  to  do  so,  provided  Mr.  Willis  would  write  an  intro- 
duction for  the  same,  and  this  secured  the  publication  of 
“ Views  Afoot.” 

Not  long  after  this,  young  Stoddard  sent  some  verses 
to  Mrs.  C.  M.  Kirkland,  who  had  just  become  editor  of  the 
Union  Magazine , and  in  that  she  published  the  second 

* A humorous  volume  of  Yankee  sketches  by  the  same  author, 
entitled,  “Way  Down  East,”  was  published  by  Derby  & Jackson 
in  1855.  Mr.  Smith  also  subsequently  published  on  his  own 
account,  “ My  Thirty  Years  out  of  the  United  States  Senate  ” — by 
Jack  Downing. 


RICHARD  HENRY  STODDARD. 


597 


poem  he  ever  had  printed.  Mr.  Stoddard  speaks  of  Mrs. 
Kirkland  with  much  feeling,  as  she  was  very  kind  to  him, 
placing  her  library  at  his  disposal  and  aiding  him  by  sug- 
gestion and  advice  which  proved  of  great  value  to  him  in 
those  early  days  of  his  literary  struggles. 

When  Mr.  Stoddard  visited  her  on  one  occasion,  she 
showed  him  the  manuscript  of  Edgar  Allen  Poe's  “Ula- 
lume  " and  asked  him  to  read  it,  and  give  his  opinion. 
After  complying  with  her  request,  he  told  her,  he  could  not 
understand  it.  She  said  that  it  had  been  offered  for  pub- 
lication in  the  “ Union  Magazine  ,''  but  that  it  would  be 
returned  to  its  author.  In  1848,  Mrs.  Kirkland  went  to 
Europe*  leaving  the  Magazine  in  charge  of  Bayard  Taylor. 
She  told  Mr.  Stoddard,  that  during  her  absence,  he  had 
better  call  upon  the  latter,  as  he  would  be  sure  to  like 
him. 

Mr.  Stoddard  did  not  delay  in  complying  with  that 
friendly  lady's  suggestion,  and  with  the  following  result. 

“The  first  time  I ever  set  foot  in  an  editorial  office  was  the 
day  I sought  Bayard  Taylor  in  the  editorial  room  of  the  Tribune. 
If  it  had  occurred  a few  years  later  I should  write  editorial  rooms; 
but  at  that  time  a single  room  had  to  suffice  ‘for  all  the  editors 
and  reporters,  and  a shabby  old  room  it  was.  My  recollection  is 
that  it  was  on  the  top  floor  of  the  Tribune  Building,  which  then, 
as  now,  was  set  apart  for  the  compositors,  and  that  when  I reached 
it,  after  climbing  several  pairs  of  dark  stairs,  I saw  a score  or 
more  of  these  dingy  men  of  letters  working  at  their  cases.  I asked 
for  Mr.  Taylor,  and  was  directed  to  two  desks,  placed  back  to 
back,  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  and  littered  over  with  books 
and  papers,  pens,  ink,  and  paper,  a paste-pot,  and  a large  pair  of 
shears.  At  their  desks,  facing  each  other,  sat  two  men,  whose 
heads  were  bent  down  over  what  they  were  writing.  ‘Is  Mr. 
Bayard  Taylor  here  ?’  I asked,  and  the  man  who  was  farthest 
from  me  looked  up,  and  said,  ‘I  am  here.’  ‘My  name  is  Stod- 
dard,’ I replied,  ‘ and  I have  come  to  see  if  you  can  use  in  the 
Union  Magazine  ’—I  named  something  of  mine  which  Mrs.  Kirk- 


* See  ante,  p.  582. 


RICHARD  HENRY  STODDARD. 


598 

land  had  left  in  his  hands  before  her  departure  for  Europe,  or 
which  I had  sent  to  him  as  the  then  occupant  of  her  chair  edito- 
rial, and  was  gratified  to  learn  that  he  not  only  could,  but  would, 
use  that  immortal  production,  and  very  speedily.  My  impression 
is  that  he  rose  from  his  desk  when  he  answered  my  question,  for 
I have  a vision  of  him  as  he  was  then,  before  me  now.  He  wras 
larger  than  I,  somewhat  tall,  indeed,  with  an  erect  figure,  a look 
of  activity  and  manliness,  a roman,  or  rather  aquiline,  nose,  thin 
nostrils,  tender,  loving  eyes,  and  the  dark,  ringleted  hair  which  I 
had  always  associated  with  the  head  o€  a poet — a remembrance, 
no  doubt,  of  the  portraits  of  Byron.  What  he  said  must  have 
been  very  kind,  for  it  went  straight  to  my  heart.  I needed  a 
friend,  and  I felt  that  I had  found  one 

“There  is  a critical  period  in  the  career  of  most  men  of  letters, 
upon  which  much  in  their  after  life  depends.  I had  reached  such 
a period  when  I met  Bayard  Taylor,  and  from  that  day  my  life, 
which  had  gone  on  darkling  like  an  underground  river,  flashed  out 
into  the  sunshine  with  a jubilant  song. 

“ It  was  understood  between  Bayard  Taylor  and  myself,  that  we 
were  to  meet  as  often  as  possible,  which,  under  the  circumstances 
wherein  we  found  ourselves,  was  not  likely  to  be  more  than  once 
or  twice  a week.  He  had  his  daily  work  to  do,  and  I had  mine, 
for  to  neither  had  fate  granted  the  ripe,  poetic  leisure  that  he 
craved.  There  was  one  night  in  the  week  which  both  could  call 
his  own  (Saturday  night),  and  when  that  came  we  were  sure  to 
spend  it  together.  What  did  wTe  do,  and  what  did  we  say,  on 
those  ambrosial  nights  ? Our  doing  was  mostly  confined  to  the 
smoking  of  indifferent  cigars,  our  talking  was  entirely  confined  to 
literature,  to  the  books  that  we  were  reading,  and  the  poems  that 
we  were  writing.  We  were  young,  we  were  simple,  and  we  were 
very  enthusiastic.  Different  in  many  things,  we  were  alike  in  our 
love  of  poetry,  and  in  our  belief  that  we  were  poets.  At  any  rate, 
I was  sure  that  Bayard  Taylor  was  a poet,  who  had  written  nobly, 
and  would  write  more  nobly  still.  I felt  a fresh  intellectual  growth 
in  him  every  time  we  met,  and  every  new  poem  of  his  that  he  read 
to  me,  was  more  wonderful  than  the  last.  I looked  up  to  Bayard 
Taylor  then,  as  I had  never  looked  up  to  man  before,  and  as  I 
have  never  looked  up  to  man  since.  He  knew  more  than  I knew, 
not  merely  of  the  world  of  men,  in  which  he  mingled  and  I did 
not;  but  in  the  world  of  books,  wherein  he  was  more  largely  and 
more  carefully  read  than  I.  He  was  comparatively  learned  when 


RICHARD  HENRY  STODDARD. 


599 


I was  absolutely  ignorant.  I compared  my  verse  with  his  verse, 
and  always  to  the  disadvantage  of  my  own.  There  was  a splen- 
dor and  a grandeur  in  what  he  wrote,  a wild,  stormy  music  in  his 
rhythm,  and  a sense  of  magnificence  in  his  color,  which  I was 
hopeless  of  attaining.  Beyond  all  other  qualities,  I admired  his 
originality  and  imagination.  I never  think  of  those  Saturday 
nights  in  Bayard  Taylor’s  sky-parlor  in  Murray  Street,  without  re- 
calling Cowley’s  noble  poem  on  the  death  of  Mr.  William  Harvey, 
particularly  the  fifth  and  eighth  stanzas: 

“ ‘Sav,  for  you  saw  us,  ye  immortal  lights, 

How  oft  unwearied  have  we  spent  the  nights, 

Till  the  Lydasan  stars,  so  famed  for  love, 

Wondered  at  us  from  above. 

We  spent  them  not  in  toys,  in  lusts,  or  wine, 

But  search  of  deep  philosophy, 

Wit,  eloquence,  and  poetry, 

Arts  which  I loved,  for  they,  my  friend,  were  thine.’ 

“My  feeling  for  Bayard  Taylor,  and  our  common  feeling  for 
poetry,  inspired  me  at  this  time  to  add  what  I thought  was  a son- 
net to  my  worthless  rhymes.  It  was  to  the  effect  that  we  were 
squires  of  poesy,  behind  the  belted  knights,  whose  prowess  fired 
us  to  do  what  noble  deeds  remained.”* 

Mr.  Stoddard  had  contributed  some  poems  to  the 
Union  Magazine , and  wanting  some  money,  called  on  Israel 
Post,  the  publisher,  and  received  ten  dollars,  which  was 
the  first  money  he  had  ever  received  for  his  literary  work. 

In  the  fall  of  1848,  Mr.  Stoddard  collected  the  various 
poems  he  had  written  for  the  Kyiickerbocker  and  other 
magazines  and  had  them  printed  in  a little  volume  called 
“ Foot  Prints/’  which  reached  the  extraordinary  sale  of  two 
copies!  After  which  the  limited  edition  which  was  printed 
at  the  young  author’s  expense  was  committed  by  him  to 
the  flames  except  one  copy,  which  he  still  retains  as,  he 
says,  a monument  of  his  youthful  indiscretion. 

* From  recollections  of  Bayard  Taylor,  contributed  to  the  New 
York  Independent — by  R.  H.  Stoddard. 


600 


RICHARD  HENRY  STODDARD. 


In  1853,  Mr.  Stoddard  was  appointed  to  a position  in 
the  Custom  House  through  the  influence  of  Nathaniel 
Hawthorne,  who  had  recommended  the  appointment.  This 
was  during  the  administration  of  Hawthorne's  friend, 
President  Pierce, — which  position  he  held  for  seventeen 
years,  writing  continually  during  that  period  for  magazines 
and  papers. 

Mr.  Stoddard’s  next  book  was  the  Life  of  Baron  Hum- 
boldt, who  had  recently  died. 

Mr.  Carleton,  the  publisher,  engaged  him  to  write  it, 
but  on  condition  that  Bayard  Taylor  should  write  the  intro- 
duction, the  latter  not  only  being  a friend  of  Baron  Hum- 
boldt’s, but  at  that  time  already  something  of  a traveler 
himself.  Por  this  work  Mr.  Stoddard  received  six  hun- 
dred dollars,  the  largest  amount  he  had  ever  received  for 
any  literary  work.  The  book  was  a successful  undertaking, 
owing,  no  doubt,  to  Bayard  Taylor’s  introduction,  as  the 
country  booksellers  sold  it  for  Taylor’s  Life  of  Humboldt. 

In  the  year  1860,  Mr.  Stoddard  prepared  for  my  firm 
a large  and  attractive  volume,  entitled  “ The  Loves  and 
Heroines  of  the  Poets,”  which  consisted  of  biographical 
sketches,  pertinent  to  the  subject.  The  Atlantic  Monthly , in 
a notice  of  the  book  said,  “It  is  a happy  thought  happily 
realized  and  Mr.  Bryant  also  said,  “Mr.  Stoddard  has 
admirably  executed  his  task  in  exery  respect.” 

The  volume  was  illustrated  with  elegant  steel  portraits. 
It  was  suggested  by  me  to  Mr.  Stoddard,  who  afterwards 
concluded  to  extend  the  plan  of  the  work  beyond  that  pro- 
posed, inducing  him  to  make  a collection  of  the  old  Eng- 
lish poets,  the  beginning  of  a library  of  English  poetry, 
which  is  said  to  be  a very  good  one  for  an  American  scholar 
to  possess.  From  this  library  he  prepared  the  beautiful 
volume  entitled  “ Madrigals  from  the  Old  English  Poets.” 

Mr.  W.  J.  Linton,  the  artist,  who  has  been  connected 
with  Mr.  Stoddard  in  making  one  of  these  collections,  Mr. 
Stoddard  considers  a remarkable  man, — a genius  in  art  and 
literature. — He  also  looks  upon  Mr.  Oliver  B.  Bunce  as  the 


RICHARD  HENRY  STODDARD. 


601 


most  admirable  book-maker  be  ever  knew,  whose  exquisite 
literary  tastes,  tact  and  adaptations  he  considers  most  re- 
markable. 

Mr.  Bunce  would  no  doubt  say  in  reply  to  any  such 
praise  as  this,  “ Don’t  !”* 

The  Bric-a-Brac  Series,  of  which  Mr.  Stoddard  is  edi- 
tor, was  projected  by  the  late  Blair  Scribner.  It  is  com- 
pleted in  ten  volumes,  and  published  by  Charles  Scribner’s 
Sons,  proving  a great  literary  success,  nearly  one  hundred 
thousand  volumes  having  been  sold,  and  for  which  literary 
work  he  has  already  received  a liberal  sum. 

Mr.  Stoddard  has  been  on  familiar  terms  with  most  of 
the  literary  people  of  the  day  ; he  became  acquainted  with 
the  Cary  Sisters  soon  after  their  arrival  in  New  York. 
Alice  Cary  he  considered  a natural  born  poet — she  wrote 
very  rapidly,  and  entirely  from  feeling.  She  once  said  to 
him,  that  she  frequently  wrote  two  or  three  poems  a day, 
and  without  correction.  She  had  an  instinctive  genius 
which  art  would  have  made  a great  deal  of  ; the  very  want 
of  art  and  the  natural  feeling  that  her  poems  expressed 
made  them  so  popular,  with  that  large  class  of  readers 
with  whom  poetry  is  a feeling  and  not  an  art.  The  tender- 
ness and  the  pathos  contained  in  them  went  right  home  to 
simple  people,  and  this  accounts,  Mr.  Stoddard  thinks,  for 
the  commercial  success  of  her  published  volumes. 

Mr.  Stoddard  thinks  Phoebe  Cary  the  best  parodist 
that  America  ever  produced. 

He  says  her  parodies  were  sometimes  superior  to  the  orig- 
inals. Bayard  Taylor  wrote  a California  ballad  called 
“Manuela,”  and  she  parodied  it  as  “Martha  Hopkins.”  The 
merit  of  her  parody  was  not  merely  that  she  paraphrased 
the  text  of  the  author  comically,  but  that  for  every  serious 

* A little  "brochure , just  published  by  D.  Appleton  & Co., 
entitled  “Don’t,”  of  which  Mr.  Bunce  is  author;  more  than  fifty 
thousand  copies  have  been  sold.  Mr.  Bunce  is  also  the  author  of 
“Bachelor  Bruff,”  a charming  little  volume  of  essays — and  “My 
House^”  an  ideal  volume,  published  by  Charles  Scribner’s  Sons. 

26 


602 


RICHARD  HENRY  STODDARD. 


situation  in  his  poem  she  found  a corresponding  comical 
one.  Mr.  Taylor  was  very  much  complimented  by  this 
parody,  as  he  should  have  been.  Mr.  Stoddard  says  he 
never  knew  her  equal  among  women,  as  to  wit.  She  had  both 
humor  and  wit.  The  quality  of  her  wit  was  like  that  of 
Douglas  Jerrold,  with  the  difference,  that  his  was  light- 
ning that  flashed  and  killed  his  victim,  whereas  hers,  though 
equally  instantaneous,  was  the  summer  heat  lightning  that 
did  no  harm.  It  was  just  the  same  flash. 

Probably  the  very  last  letter  ever  written  by  Mr.  Bryant 
was  to  his  friend  Stoddard,  and  it  is  produced  here  as  an 
evidence  of  the  painstaking  kindness  of  Mr.  Bryant. 

On  the  27th  of  May,  having  received  from  Mr.  Stod- 
dard, a poem  of  which  his  opinion  was  asked,  Mr.  Bryant 
wrote  the  following  reply,  still  showing  the  same  friendly 
interest  as  he  did  when  he  had  looked  over  the  manuscripts 
of  Dana  and  Uillliouse,  his  willingness  to  serve  a brother 
poet : 


“Roslyn,  May  27th,  1878, 

“I  like  your  poem  much,  and  am  charmed  with  its  beautiful 
ending.  You  ask  for  my  criticism.  It  will  not  be  of  much  value; 
but  since  you  desire  it,  I will  point  out  a few  places  where  I would 
make  a change  if  I were  the  author. 

“ Stanza  III.  ‘Their  hearts  rebellious  cried’ — an  unpleasant 
inversion  if  ‘ rebellious’  be  an  adjective,  and  not  very  good  gram- 
mar if  it  be  an  abverb.  ‘Rebelling’  would  be  better,  mejudice. 

“ Stanza  V.  Two  ‘ fors  ’ in  two  successive  lines. 

“ Stanza  VI.  ‘And  other  horsemen  ’ — if  for  ‘other  ’ one  were 
to  substitute  some  adjective  in  the  comparative  degree,  as  4 fiercer  ’ 
it  would  give  the  passage  more  force. 

“ Stanza  X.  ‘Would  never  have  permitted  it  so  long  ’ seems 
to  me  prosaic. 

“ Stanza  XIII.  4 Such  strength  as  you  displayed.’  4 Displayed,’ 
for  4 put  forth  ’ or  some  such  word  is  not  quite  right. 

44  Stanza  XVI.  4 Superstructures.’  I should  have  preferred 
4 structures  ’ with  some  alteration  of  the  stanza  to  give  it  the  re- 
quired length. 

44  Same  Stanza — 4 and  batter  against’ — why  not  beat  ? 


RICHARD  HENRY  STODDARD. 


603 


“ Stanza  XIX.  Second  line  something  omitted. 

“ Stanza  XXII.  ‘Produces  ’ for  4 brings  forth.’ 

“ Stanza  XIX.  Another  phrase  in  this  stanza  which  I do  not 
like  is  4 and  all  triumphal  strains.’  Ido  not  quite  see  its  perti- 
nency. There  is  in  Stanza  IV".  a grammatical  slip,  4 the  hand  of 
God  was  lain.' 

44  You  see  that  although  I have  read  your  poem  several  times 
over,  I have  gleaned  very  little  in  the  way  of  objection,  and 
nothing  to  the  thought  or  plan,  which  is  excellent.  Looking  again 
at  Stanza  Y.  the  line  4 And  all  men  have  submitted  to  his  reign,’ 
strikes  me  as  wanting  in  force.  If  the  meaning  were  extended  to 
every  living  thing,  it  seems  to  me  that  something  would  be  gained 
in  vigor  of  expression.  But  the  blemishes  I have  noticed  are  triv- 
ial ones,  and  all  of  them  may  not  seem  such  to  others. 

“Faithfully  yours, 

44  W.  C.  B.” 


Mr.  Stoddard  has  been  a resident  of  New  York  for  near- 
ly half  a century,  and  is  at  present  connected  with  the 
editorial  department  of  the  New  York  Evening  Mail , to 
which  position  he  is  eminently  fitted,  by  his  long  experience 
as  a literary  critic.  As  a poet,  Mr.  Stoddard  ranks  in  pub- 
lic estimation  with  his  friends  and  fellow  poets,  Edmund 
0.  Stedman  and  Thomas  Bailey  Aldrich,  contributing  more 
frequently,  however,  to  magazines  and  other  literary  jour- 
nals of  the  day. 

Mr.  Stoddard’s  wife,  Elizabeth  B.  Stoddard,  is  the 
author  of  three  clever  novels,  “ The  Morgesons,”  published 
by  G-.  W.  Carleton,  in  1862  ; “ Two  Men,”  published  in 
1865  ; and  “■  Temple  House,”  published  in  1867.  She 
has  also  contributed  sketches  in  prose  and  poetry  to  the 
principal  magazines  of  the  country.  A lady  of  cultivated 
tastes,  she  is  a very  efficient  aid  to  her  husband  in  his  lit- 
erary pursuits. 

The  pleasant  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stoddard  is  filled 
with  many  mementoes  of  their  literary  and  artistic  tastes, 
gathered  together  with  much  care,  during  their  eventful 
literary  career. 


XLI. 


TWO  VETERAN  EDITORS  AND  AUTHORS. 


REV.  S.  IREN  yE  US  PRIME,  D.D. 

Five  Generations  of  a Book-Making  Family — An  Author 
who  never  sought  a Publisher — Authorized  Life  of 
Professor  Morse — Dr.  Prime  on  His  Travels — A thou - 
sand  a year  from  Harpers — How  a Profound  Secret  is 
Kept — Print  ing-  Office  Destroyed  by  fire — Narrow  Es- 
cape of  the  Editors — Quick  Writing  and  Quick  Print- 
ing. 

TN  the  library  of  Dr.  Prime's  study  are  manuscripts  and 
printed  books  of  five  generations  of  the  Prime  family.  8 
Of  these  five  generations  of  book-making  people,  there  has 
never  been  an  infidel  or  a prodigal.  There  are  more  than 
one  hundred  volumes  of  these  works,  and  every  one  of 
those  volumes  has  a right  to  have  the  name  of  Prime  on 
its  title-page.  In  this  library  is  a copy  which  lacks  only 
three  years  of  being  three  hundred  years  old  of  the  ts  Ex- 
position and  Observations  of  St.  Paul,”  by  John  Prime. 
There  is  also  a Greek  Testament,  which  has  been  used  by 
five  successive  generations  in  the  same  family. 

Dr.  Prime  never  went  to  a publisher  in  his  life  to  offer 
any  of  his  books  for  publication,  they  always  came  to  him. 
The  first  book  that  he  ever  wrote  was  called  “ Elizabeth 

[604] 


REV.  S.  IREIT^EUS  PRIME,  D.D. 


605 


Thornton,”  published  forty  years  ago  by  M.  W.  Dodd,  who 
was  at  that  time  the  publisher  of  Dr.  Gardner  Springes 
works.  Mr.  Dodd,  whom  I knew  more  than  forty  years 
ago,  has  long  since  retired  from  the  business,  in  which  he 
was  succeeded  by  the  present  house  of  Dodd,  Mead  & Co. 

The  executors  of  the  estate  of  Professor  Samuel  F.  B. 
Morse  applied  to  Dr.  Prime  to  write  his  life  ; he  consented 
•very  reluctantly  to  do  so,  and  produced  a work  of  great 
interest,  making  a large  octavo  volume,  which  was  pub- 
lished in  1875  by  D.  Appleton  & Co. 

In  his  last  will  and  testament,  Professor  Morse  gave  to 
his  executors  authority  “ to  place  his  manuscripts  in  the 
hands  of  some  suitable  person,  for  the  purpose  of  examin- 
ing and  using  the  same  in  preparing  a biographical  or  his- 
torical note  relating  to  himself.”  The  family  of  the  great 
inventor,  and  the  executors  of  his  estate  united  in  an  ur- 
gent request,  that  the  author  of  this  volume  would  take 
charge  of  the  papers,  and  prepare  and  present  to  the  pub- 
lic a biography  of  Professor  Morse,  in  such  a style  that  it 
would  be  generally  read. 

Professor  Morse  and  Dr.  Prime  had  been  intimate  friends 
for  many  years.  The  brothers  of  Professor  Morse,  Sidney 
E.  and  Richard  C.,  were  the  founders  of  the  New  York 
Observer. 

Professor  Morse  invented  the  telegraph  in  1832,  and 
Dr.  Prime  became  acquainted  with  him  in  1840,  when  he 
was  engaged  upon  it,  but  had  not  perfected  it.  Dr.  Prime 
says  that  Professor  Morse  never  seemed  to  be  elated  at  his 
great  discovery,  but  had  a feeling  of  intense  solemnity 
in  regard  to  it.  He  felt  that  God  had  used  him  as  an  in- 
strument for  the  accomplishment  of  a great  undertaking, 
and  fully  comprehended  it.  He  told  Dr.  Prime  that  he 
saw  no  reason  why  we  shouldn’t  go  around  the  world  with 
it,  and  afterwards  conceived  the  idea  of  surrounding  the 
globe  with  the  wire,  under  the  ocean  and  over  the  moun- 
tains. 


606 


REV.  S.  IRENJ3US  PRIME,  D.D. 


The  most  popular  book  which  Dr.  Prime  has  written 
and  that  which  has  the  largest  sale,  is  his  book  of  travels. 

When  he  returned  from  his  first  journey  in  Europe,  his 
letters  during  his  absence  having  been  published  in  the 
Observer,  and  having  attracted  considerable  attention,  he 
received  offers,  entirely  unsought,  from  three  different  pub- 
lishers, two  in  New  York  and  one  in  Philadelphia,  request- 
ing him  to  furnish  them  with  the  book.  Two  of  the  pub- 
lishers offered  him  twelve  percent.;  Harper  & Bros,  offered 
fifteen  per  cent,  copyright.  ; he  accepted  the  latter  proposi- 
tion, and  the  book  was  published  by  that  house. 

He  had  never  written  a line  for  this  house  previous  to 
that  time,  but  while  he  was  engaged  reading  the  proofs, 
and  this  book  of  travels  was  going  to  the  press,  they  asked 
him  to  write  for  the  magazine,  and  he  accepted  their  pro- 
posal. From  that  time  onward,  for  twelve  years,  he 
received  from  them  on  an  average,  more  than  a thousand 
dollars  a year,  for  his  contributions  to  that  magazine. 
These  were  entirely  anonymous,  with  the  promise  of  secrecy. 
Befere  he  entered  into  engagements  with  them  he  was 
living  on  a very  limited  salary  and  living  up  to  it.  This 
was  in  the  year  1854,  after  having  been  fourteen  years  on 
the  Observer. 

Four  y.ears  later  he  was  offered  an  interest  in  that  paper, 
and  the  money  that  he  had  made  on  “ Harper's  Magazine  " 
alone,  enabled  him  to  make  cash  payments.  He  stated  this 
fact  to  the  late  Fletcher  Harper,  at  one  time  when  they 
were  dining  together  at  Delmonico's,  and  they  were  both 
visibly  affected. 

At  one  time  Dr.  Prime  said  to  the  Harpers,  “ This 
Drawer  in  your  Magazine  contains  a good  many  objection- 
able anecdotes,  you  sometimes  admit  a profane  word,  and 
sometimes  allow  matter  that  I do  not  think  is  in  the  highest 
degree  delicate."  Mr.  James  Harper  interrupted  him  by 
saying,  “ Do  you  think  you  can  make  it  any  better?"  The 
doctor  said,  “ Certainly  I do."  Then  Fletcher  spoke  up, 
said  he,  “Will  you  take  an  order?"  “Yes,"  was  the  reply. 


REV.  S.  IRENJEUS  PRIME,  D.D. 


607 


“ Then,”  said  Harper,  “ we  would  like  to  have  twenty 
pages.”  Dr.  Prime  went  home  and  in  the  course  of  a few 
days  brought  the  twenty  pages.  From  that  time  he  went 
on  with  it,  and  they  told  him  that  they  perceived,  after  he 
had  been  engaged  on  it  some  time,  the  Drawer  sold  more 
copies  than  any  other  contribution  in  the  Magazine. 

One  day  James  T.  Fields  asked  Fletcher  Harper,  “ Who 
makes  up  your  drawer  ?”  The  latter  replied,  “That  is  a 
profound  secret.”  “ Yes,”  said  Field,  “ but  I don’t  ask  the 
question  from  any  idle  curiosity;  I should  really  like  to  know 
who  the  man  is,  who  can  get  up  such  a melange  every 
month.”  Fletcher  said,  “If  you  will  keep  it  a profound 
secret  I will  tell  you.”  He  promised  to  do  so,  and  Fletcher 
told  him  it  was  made  up  by  Rev.  Dr.  Prime,  editor  of  the 
Old  School  Presbyterian  paper,  the  New  York  Observer . 
“ Then,”  said  Field  with  surprise,  “that  is  the  greatest 
joke  that  has  ever  been  in  the  drawer.” 

Dr.  Prime  relates  the  following  incident  which  occurred 
at  a dinner  given  a few  friends  by  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Cum- 
mings of  St.  Stephen’s  Church.  “Fifteen  or  twenty  gen- 
tlemen sat  down  ; all  but  four  were  priests  or  eminent  lay- 
men of  the  Romish  Church  : Dr.  Cummings  at  the  head 
of  the  table,  had  two  of  us  Protestants  on  one  hand,  and 
two  on  the  other.  The  Austrian  Consul  presided  at  the 
other  end  of  the  long  table.  After  we  were  seated,  our  host 
looking  along  the  rows  of  guests,  remarked  with  great  glee, 
“ Now  we  have  these  Protestants,  we’ll  roast  them.”  I 
returned  his  smile  and  said,  “I  thought  we  all  belonged 
to  the  same  sect.”  “And  which  ?”  exclaimed  some  one. 
“ The  Society  of  Friends,”  said  I,  and  they  gave  me  a cheer 
along  the  line,  and  did  not  try  to  roast  a Protestant. 

Dr.  Cummings  was  in  the  prime  and  vigor  of  his  life 
when  disease  overtook  him,  and  with  slow  approaches  wore 
his  life  away.  His  constitutional  cheerfulness  never  failed 
him.  I think  an  invitation  he  gave  to  our  friend  the  late 
William  A.  Seaver,  has  no  example  in  the  speech  of  dying 
men  of  ancient  and  modern  times.  Socrates  conversed 


608 


REV.  S.  IRENiEUS  PRIME,  D.D. 


with  his  friends  serenely.  Philosophy  and  religion  have 
both  made  death-beds  cheerful.  I have  spoken  of  Dr. 
Cummings*  love  of  music,  and  its  exquisite  culture  at  St. 
Stephen’s.  It  was  his  pride  and  joy,  and  one  who  has  no 
music  in  his  soul,  cannot  understand  his  dying  words.  Mr. 
Seaver  was  in  the  habit  of  seeing  him  almost  daily,  and 
each  visit  was  noted  apparently  to  be  the  last.  One  day  as 
the  end  was  very  near,  and  the  two  friends  were  parting, 
the  dying  said  to  the  living,  “ Come  to  the  funeral,  the 
music  will  be  splendid.” 

Of  Dr.  Prime’s  “Power of  Prayer,”  published  by  Scrib- 
ners, more  than  a hundred  thousand  were  sold  in  this 
country  and  Great  Britain,  and  two  rival  editions  were 
published  in  France.  It  was  also  published  in  the  East 
Indies  in  the  Tamil  language.  This  book  has  been  the 
most  widely  circulated  of  any  of  Dr.  Prime’s  works,  and 
the  latter  thinks  its  usefulness  has  been  greater  than  any- 
thing he  has  written  in  book-form. 

On  the  31st  of  January,  1882,  the  New  York  Observer’s 
offices  were  destroyed  by  fire,  and  the  four  editors  and  pro- 
prietors, together  with  their  assistants  and  clerks,  had  a 
very  narrow  escape  with  their  lives.  The  son-in-law  of  Dr. 
Prime  and  his  brother  Edward  escaped  by  walking  along 
the  ledge  of  the  windows  on  the  outside,  and  being  taken 
through  them  into  the  Times  office. 

Dr.  Prime  has  never  recovered  from  the  shock  of  this 
catastrophe  so  as  to  able  to  speak  of  it  without  emotion. 
Not  a scrap  of  paper  was  saved  from  this  fire.  The  four 
outside  pages  of  the  Observer  were  printed  and  were  lying 
down  in  the  press-room  in  another  street.  The  other  four 
were  destroyed  in  type.  They  were  just  ready  to  go  to  the 
press. 

In  the  course  of  the  day  they  resolved  to  restore  the 
paper  and  go  to  press  immediately,  but  the  problem  was 
how  to  get  copy.  Four  of  the  editors  had  worked  on  the 
paper  at  the  time  it  was  destroyed,  and  each  of  them  took 
a page  to  reproduce  in  such  a way  as  he  could.  One  took 


REV.  IRENuEUS  S.  PRIME,  D.D.  609 

the  secular  news,  the  other  the  religious  news,  another  the 
advertising  page,  and  the  fourth — the  editorial, — fell  to 
Doctor  Prime.  He  said  that  each  of  them  ought  to  bring 
his  page  of  copy  the  next  morning,  and  that  there  should 
be  no  night  work.  This  was  about  five  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon. “ Our  health,"  said  he,  “ is  the  first  consideration  ; 
if  we  go  through  this  awful  calamity  without  sacrificing 
the  life  of  any  of  us " (three  of  their  men  had  been  burned 
to  death)  “ we  shall  have  great  occasion  to  be  thankful. 
Let  us  employ  the  early  hours  of  the  evening,  then  go  to 
bed,  and,  if  possible,  get  a good  sleep  and  come  here  to- 
morrow morning."  They  were  then  in  a third  story  front 
room  of  the  Astor  House.  Dr.  Prime  had  not  tasted  any- 
thing since  an  early  breakfast  that  morning.  He  sent  over 
to  the  Herald  office  and  asked  them  to  send  him  two 
stenographers.  They  came  over  to  his  room  in  the  Astor 
House  at  six  o'clock.  He  said  to  them,  “ I want  one  o|  you 
to  sit  down  and  write  an  hour  for  me,  and  then  I want  the 
other  one  to  take  his  copy  and  write  it  out."  Doctor 
Prime  then  lay  down  upon  the  bed  and  proceeded  to  re- 
produce the  destroyed  editorial  page  of  the  Hew  York 
Observer , to  re-compose  it.  He  could  not  recollect  the 
subjects.  His  first  dictation  to  this  man  was  an  account 
of  the  fire.  He  spoke  with  great  feeling  and  earnestness, 
thrashing  with  his  arms  and  knees  to  keep  up  the  excite- 
ment. He  was  interrupted  several  times  by  persons  com- 
ing to  inquire  if  any  news  had  been  heard  of  those  who 
had  been  burned.  His  son  stood  outside  of  the  door  to 
prevent  interruption  as  much  as  possible.  After  Doctor 
Prime  had  spoken  an  hour  he  asked  the  stenographer  how 
much  he  had  probably  got.  The  latter  thought  what  he 
had  taken  would  make  about  two  columns  and  a half  of  the 
Herald.  “ Then,"  said  Doctor  Prime,  “it  will  make 
three  columns  of  the  Observer ."  By  this  time  the  other 
man  came  and  sat  down,  and  Doctor  Prime  proceeded 
to  orate  to  him  on  different  subjects,  such  as  he  could  re- 
collect. At  the  end  of  an  hour  he  asked  him  how  much  he 


610 


REV.  HENRY  MARTYN  FIELD,  D.D. 


had,  and  found  that  he  had  enough  to  fill  up  the  page,  so 
that  in  two  hours  from  the  time  he  began  he  had  a page  of 
the  New  York  Observer  written.  The  next  morning  the 
stenographers  returned  with  their  copy  written  out  and 
after  looking  it  over  and  correcting  it,  it  was  handed  to 
the  printer.  Thus  one  page  of  the  New  York  Observer 
was  produced  in  two  hours,  after  a day  of  unparalleled 
excitement  and  confusion,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  most 
profound  agitation.  Doctor  Prime  suffered  no  ill  effects 
from  the  excitement  and  labor  of  that  time.  Each  of  the 
other  editors  produced  their  page,  and  they  had  four  pages 
of  the  paper  in  the  hands  of  the  printer  the  next  day  after 
the  fire.  The  Tribune  association  offered  to  do  the  print- 
ing and  said  they  would  put  their  entire  force  on  it.  The 
building  was  burned  on  Tuesday,  on  Wednesday  the  paper 
went  into  the  hands  of  the  printer,  on  Thursday  it  went 
to  press,  and  on  Friday  the  proprietors  had  the  paperback 
in  their  office. 


REV.  HENRY  MARTYN  FIELD,  D.D. 

The  Observer  and  the  Evangelist — Early  Life  of  Dr.  Field 
— First  Visit  Abroad — Is  a Witness  of  the  French 
Revolution  of  1848 — “ Letter  from  Rome  ” — Becomes 
an  Editor  in  New  York — u History  of  the  Atlantic 
Telegraph  ” and  other  Books — Becomes  a Great  Trav- 
eller— Journey  round  the  World — Publishes  “ From  the 
Lakes  of  Killarney  to  the  Golden  Horn  ” — “ From 
Egypt  to  Japan’1 — “ On  the  Desert and  u Among  the 
Holy  Hills  .” 

HPHE  name  of  the  veteran  editor  of  the  Observer  natu- 
rally  suggests  that  of  Dr.  Henry  M.  Field,  the  editor 
of  the  Evangelist.  The  latter  paper  was  not  begun  until 
some  years  after  the  Observer. 

It  was  about  the  year  1830  that  the  revival  labors  of 


REV.  HENRY  MARTYN  FIELD,  D.D. 


611 


Rev.  Charles  G.  Finney  produced  a great  excitement  in  the 
American  churches,  and  especially  in  Central  and  Western 
New  York,  which  demanded  a paper  that  should  minister 
to  the  new  enthusiasm,  and  so  the  Evangelist  was  started 
by  a number  of  ardent  young  men,  of  whom  the  late  Wil- 
liam E.  Dodge  was  one,  and' exerted  a powerful  influence, 
not  only  in  favor  of  Revivals,  but  of  Temperance  and  Anti- 
Slavery. 

Its  course  on  these  questions  was  more  advanced  than  that 
of  the  Observer , which  was  regarded  as  the  representative, 
and  in  that  sense  the  organ,  of  the  conservative  portion  of 
the  Church,  while  the  Evangelist  aimed  to  be  a leader  of 
the  progressive  school. 

The  latter  had  been  in  existence  nearly  a quarter  of  a 
century  before  Dr.  Field  became  connected  with  it.  He 
was  a native  of  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  the  son  of  a country 
minister,  -whose  other  sons,  David  Dudley  Field,  an  emi- 
nent lawyer  of  New  York,  Justice  Stephen  J.  Field,  of  the 
supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  and  Cyrus  W.  Field, 
the  projector  of  the  Atlantic  telegraph,  are  well  known. 

Henry  M.,  the  youngest  son,  followed  his  father’s  pro- 
fession. At  the  age  of  twelve  he  entered  Williams  College, 
(which  was  also  the  alma  mater  of  Dr.  Prime,)  graduated 
at  sixteen,  and  immediately  entered  on  the  study  of  theol- 
ogy. After  two  years  he  was  licensed  to  preach,  though  he 
continued  his  studies  two  years  longer  ; but  at  the  age  of 
twenty,  he  went  to  St.  Louis,  and  took  charge  of  a Presby- 
terian church,  and  there  began  that  active  life  which  has 
continued  for  more  than  forty  years.  At  St.  Louis  he  re- 
mained nearly  five  years,  when  he  resigned  to  go  abroad. 

A large  part  of  the  years  1847-8  he  spent  in  Europe, 
where  he  was  a witness  of  the  French  Revolution  of  1848, 
of  which  he  wrote  a full  account  to  the  New  York  Obser- 
ver, of  which  he  was  a correspondent.  From  Paris  he  went 
to  Italy,  where  he  was  a witness  of  the  revolutionary  move- 
ments in  Milan,  Genoa,  and  Rome,  on  which  he  afterwards 
published  an  article  in  the  New  Englander . 


612 


REV.  HENRY  MARTYN  FIELD,  D.D. 


Another  fruit  of  his  visit  to  Rome,  was  a pamphlet  on 
“The  Good  and  the  Bad  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church/’ 
which  was  much  more  liberal  towards  that  Church,  than  is 
common  among  Protestants.  Returning  to  America  he 
spent  some  months  in  New  York,  where  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  families  of  the  Irish  exiles.  Emmet, 
Tone,  MacNeven,  and  Sampson,  wdiich  led  him  to  study 
that  period  of  Irish  history  in  which  they  had  borne  a part, 
and  finally  to  write  a book  entitled  “The  Irish  Confeder- 
ates : and  the  Rebellion  of  1798,”  which  was  published  by 
Harper  & Brothers.  This  was  Dr.  Field’s  first  book. 

About  the  same  time  he  was  settled  over  the  Congrega- 
tional church  in  West  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  where  he 
remained  four  years.  While  there  he  published  several  ser- 
mons and  reviews. 

In  1854,  Dr.  Field  removed  to  New  York,  to  become 
one  of  the  editors  and  proprietors  of  the  Evangelist , of 
which  he  is  now  the  sole  proprietor.  After  a continued 
service  of  thirty  years,  it  is  here  that  he  has  found  his 
^widest  field  and  done  his  greatest  work.  But  as  it  is  the 
design  of  this  volume  to  treat  of  authors  rather  than 
editors,  it  falls  within  its  purpose  to  speak  of  his  books 
rather  than  of  his  editorial  career. 

Dr.  Field  had  married  a French  lady,  long  known  in 
the  society  of  New  York  for  her  remarkable  powers  of 
conversation,  which  quickened  both  his  literary  tastes  and 
his  fondness  for  travel.  In  1858  they  revisited  Europe, 
extending  their  journey  to  Denmark  on  the  North,  and 
Italy  on  the  South,  the  pleasant  impressions  of  which  were 
reproduced  in  a volume  entitled  “ Summer  Pictures  : from 
Copenhagen  to  Venice.” 

It  was  during  these  years  that  Dr.  Field’s  brother  Cy- 
rus was  engaged  in  his  daring  project  of  laying  a cable 
across  the  Atlantic  Ocean — a work  involving  immense  diffi- 
culties, which  had  repeated  failures,  and  was  only  carried 
to  success  by  the  most  heroic  perseverance.  With  the  pro- 
gress of  his  brother’s  work  Dr.  Field  was  of  course  familiar, 


REV.  HENRY  MAETYN  FIELD,  D.D. 


613 


and  having  the  materials  ready  to  his  hand,  he  wrote  the 
“ History  of  the  Atlantic  Telegraph,”  which  was  published 
on  the  completion  of  the  work  in  1866.  It  is  a full  and 
authentic  history  of  one  of  the  greatest  enterprises  of 
modern  times. 

In  1867,  Dr.  Field  went  to  Europe  again,  to  attend  the 
Paris  Exposition  of  that  year,  which  was  the  last  of  his 
visits  in  company  with  his  wife,  for  in  the  year  1875  she 
died.  This  was  the  great  blow  of  his  life,  breaking  up  his 
home  and  driving  him  abroad,  accompanied  now  by  a 
niece  who  had  been  one  of  his  family  from  her  childhood. 

His  travels  now  took  a wider  range  than  before.  After 
six  months  in  Europe,  he  crossed  to  Africa,  spent  some 
weeks  in  Egypt,  going  up  the  Nile,  and  then  sailed  for 
India,  and  so  made  the  tour  of  the  world. 

During  all  this  long  journey  he  kept  up  a constant  cor- 
respondence with  the  Evangelist,  to  which  he  devoted  very 
great  labor,  often  spending  a week  on  a single  letter. 

These  letters  attracted  unusual  attention.  The  late  Dr. 
William  Adams  said  of  them  : “ They  are  the  best  letters 
of  the  kind  ever  written,  and  have  done,  and  will  do,  the 
writer  boundless  credit.”  Letters  so  highly  commended 
were  not  to  be  allowed  to  drop  into  oblivion,  and  they  were 
called  for  in  a more  permanent  form.  To  prepare  them 
for  this  they  were  revised  with  the  greatest  care.  One 
volume,  entitled  “From  the  Lakes  of  Killarney  to  the 
Golden  Horn,”  was  published  at  the  close  of  1876,  and 
was  very  successful,  the  sale  reaching  many  thousands. 
Nor  was  its  success  confined  to  this  country.  The  London 
Times  reviewed  it  to  the  length  of  a column  and  a half  in 
most  flattering  terms. 

The  author  now  devoted  a whole  year  to  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  second  volume,  “ From  Egypt  to  Japan.”  He 
had  the  ambition  to  write,  not  merely  a book  of  popular 
sketches,  but  one  containing  so  much  authentic  informa- 
tion about  foreign  countries  as  should  make  it  of  perma- 
nent value.  This  required  great  research  to  add  to  his 


614 


REV.  HENRY  MARTYN  FIELD,  D.D. 


own  personal  observations  the  knowledge  which  might  be 
gained  from  other  writers,  on  different  parts  of  Asia. 

When  the  book  was  completed,  it  was  gone  over  in 
every  page  and  line,  by  the  late  Dr.  Wells  Williams,  who 
had  spent  forty  years  in  China,  and  was  the  highest  living 
authority  in  regard  to  that  Empire,  as  well  as  familiar  with 
India,  Burmah,  Java,  and  Japan.  This  labor  was  not  spent 
in  vain.  The  book  immediately  took  rank  among  the  best 
of  its  kind,  and  commanded  respect  from  the  highest 
authorities.  Mr.  Gladstone,  with  all  his  public  cares,  found 
time  to  read  it,  and  wrote  to  a friend  in  America,  that  he 
had  done  so  “with  great  interest.”  But  perhaps  the  most 
remarkable  proof  of  its  engaging  character  was  the  way  in 
which  it  took  hold  of  men  not  supposed  to  be  given  to 
books.  The  late  Thomas  A.  Scott,  the  railroad  king, 
was  in  Europe  the  year  before  his  death,  and  a gentleman 
who  was  traveling  with  him  gave  him  a copy  of  this  book, 
in  which  he  became  s*o  interested  that  he  actually  made  the 
voyage  to  Egypt  that  he  might  see  for  himself  the  country 
which  the  author  had  described  ! In  the  same  way  the  late 
Moses  Taylor,  of  this  city,  who  was  supposed  to  be  too 
much  absorbed  in  business  (he  left  an  estate  of  forty  mil- 
lions,) to  have  time  for  books,  happened  to  get  hold  of 
these,  and  to  one  who  expressed  surprise  that  he  should  be 
interested  in  books  of  travel,  as  he  was  not  at  all  given  to 
travel  himself,  having  never  been  out  of  his  own  country, 
and  who  asked  incredulously,  “Do  you  really  mean  to  say 
that  you  have  read  these  books  ?”  he  answered  with  em- 
phasis, “ I have  read  every  word , from  the  first  line  of  the 
first  volume  to  the  last  line  of  the  second,  and  am  ready 
for  tivo  more  !” 

The  success  of  these  Books  of  Travel  was  indeed  re- 
markable. Edition  after  edition  passed  through  the  press. 
And  now,  after  more  than  seven  years,  they  retain  their 
popularity,  and  are  in  continued  demand  both  for  private 
and  public  libraries. 

In  1881,  Dr.  Field  again  went  abroad,  and  after  spend- 


REV.  HENRY  MARTY N FIELD,  D.D. 


615 


ing  some  months  in  England  and  on  the  Continent,  left  his 
family  in  Italy  while  he  made  a second  visit  to  the  East. 
In  his  journey  round  the  world  he  had  been  prevented  by 
the  cholera  from  going  to  the  Holy  Land.  He  now  crossed 
the  Desert  to  Mount  Sinai,  from  which  he  returned  byway 
of  “ the  great  and  terrible  wilderness,”  to  Jerusalem, 
where  he  spent  the  Holy  Week,  and  thence  continued 
North,  through  Samaria  and  Galilee  to  Damascus  and 
Beirut. 

This  journey  through  the  sacred  lands  had  to  him  a very 
great  interest,  and  bore  fruit  in  two  volumes.  Of  the  first 
“ On  the  Desert,”  Canon  Farrar  wrote,  “ I found  it  so  in- 
teresting that  I could  not  lay  it  down  till  I had  finished  it.” 
It  has  been  republished  in  England  in  a very  handsome 
volume,  with  a large  number  of  illustrations.  The  latter, 
“ Among  the  Holy  Hills,”  was  published  only  a few  months 
since. 

The  preparation  of  so  many  books,  with  all  his  editorial 
duties,  has  made  the  life  of  Dr.  Field,  like  that  of  Dr. 
Prime,  a very  busy  one.  Both  are  generally  regarded  as 
among  the  most  successful  and  prosperous  men  connected 
with  the  religious  press. 

The  following,  from  a recent  editorial,  shows  that  the 
writer,  while  moralizing  on  the  past,  still  hopes  for  years 
of  continued  activity  and  usefulness  : 

“Alas!  alas!  we  are  growing  old!  Not  that  the  Evangelist, 
with  its  heart  of  oak,  feels  the  slightest  touch  of  age,  or  weakness 
or  decay;  but  those  connected  with  it  are  not  as  young  as  they 
once  were.  It  is  thirty  years  this  Autumn  since  the  present 
Editor  came  to  this  city  and  entered  on  his  work,  which  makes 
him,  next  to  Dr.  Prime,  the  oldest  Editor  (that  is,  the  longest  in 
service)  of  all  connected  with  the  Religious  Press  in  this  city,  if 
not  in  the  country.  When  he  puts  side  by  side  the  dates  of  1854 
and  1884,  he  cannot  but  confess  that  there  is  a long  interval  be- 
tween ; and  yet  he  feels  life  still  strong  within  him,  and  hopes  it 
will  be  a good  while  before  he  joins  his  predecessors.” 


XLII. 


TICKNOR  AND  FIELDS. 


WILLIAM  D.  TICKNOK. 

A Publisher  half  a Century  Ago — Begins  to  issue  Belles- 
lettres  Bootes — Pays  Tennyson  the  first  Copyright — 
The  Manufacturing  and  Financial  Partner — Intimate 
Relations  with  Ilaivthorne — “ The  Life  of  Franklin 
Pierce , I believe ” — Haivthorne’s  Traveling  Com- 
panion— The  “ Old  Corner  Book-Store  ” — Miss  Mit- 
ford’s  Tribute. 

"IV  I"  ORE  than  half  a century  ago  the  late  W.  D.  Ticknor, 
^ A as  the  successor  of  the  firm  of  Allen  & Ticknor,  was 
well  known  to  the  book-publishing  world,  conducting  as  he 
did  an  extensive  business  in  his  own  name  for  a period  of 
ten  years.  Although  the  list  of  the  publications  of  his  late 
firm  was  an  extensive  one,  containing  nearly  two  hundred 
Scientific,  Educational,  Religious,  Medical  and  Juvenile 
books,  it  embraced  but  few,  if  any  belles-lettres  books. 

Mr.  Ticknor,  soon  after  establishing  himself  alone,  ad- 
ded to  his  publications  the  poems  of  Caroline  E.  Norton 
and  MaryHowitt,  Smith’s  Rejected  Addresses,  Motherwell’s 
Poems,  Lectures  of  William  Ellery  Channing,  Addresses  of 
Edward  Everett,  De  Quincey’s  “Opium  Eater,”  and  the 
First  American  Edition  of  Tennyson’s  Poems — this  was  as 
early  as  1842,  and  for  an  edition  of  two  thousand  copies  Mr. 
Ticknor  paid  that  author  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars,  which  is  probably  the  first  international  copyright 
payment  ever  made  to  an  English  author.  No  American 
[61 8] 


WILLIAM  D.  TICKNOR. 


617 


edition  bearing  any  other  imprint,  than  that  of  Mr.  Tick- 
nor,  was  issued  until  November,  1845. 

In  1843  Mr.  Ticknor  went  abroad,  visited  De  Quincy 
and  other  authors,  and  making  the  first  definite  arrange- 
ments ever  entered  into  by  the  firm  for  joint  publications. 
One  of  these  arrangements  was  for  an  edition  of  the  poems 
of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  which  was  printed  in  London 
and  the  books  sent  in  sheets  to  Boston. 

And  although  later  years  necessitated  a division  of 
duties  whereby  Mr.  Ticknor  assumed  main  charge  of  the 
firm’s  manufacturing  and  financial  interests,  while  Mr. 
Fields  devoted  himself  to  literary  work,  the  former  never 
lost  his  hold  upon  the  business  as  a whole.  His  excellent 
judgment  of  books  did  not  fail,  as  was  shown  by  his  repub- 
lication of  Charles  Reade,  when  almost  an  unknown  man, 
and  his  purchase  of  the  Atlantic  Monthly — both  of  which 
transactions  he  carried  through  alone  during  an  absence  of 
Mr.  Fields  in  Europe. 

The  relations  existing  between  Mr.  Ticknor  and  Mr. 
Hawthorne  were  of  the  most  intimate  nature,  the  hitter 
depending  upon  the  former  to  attend  to  all  his  business 
matters. 

On  one  occasion  Mr.  Ticknor,  at  an  evening  party  at 
his  house  in  Boston,  introduced  one  of  his  guests,  a Liver- 
pool merchant,  to  Hawthorne,  who  as  everybody  knows, 
was  singularly  shy  and  retiring,  in  a mixed  company.  The 
English  gentleman  was  a great  admirer  of  Hawthorne,  and 
shaking  him  heartily  by  the  hand  began  in  a loud  voice  to 
express  his  admiration  of  all  that  the  romancer  had  written 
— how  charmed  he  had  been  with  his  works,  and  how  pop- 
ular they  were  in  England,  and  concluded  by  saying  that 
he  was  quite  ashamed  to  confess  that,  owing  to  pressing 
occupations  of  late,  he  had  not  read  his  last  romance, 
the  name  of  which  he  begged  Hawthorne  to  tell  him,  that 
he  might  at  once  purchase  and  peruse  the  book.  This 
was  just  after  Mr.  Piercers  inauguration  as  president,  and 
it  so  happened  that  the  last  printed  book  of  Hawthorne 


618 


WILLIAM  D.  TICKNOR. 


was  the  life  of  the  just-elected  Chief  Magistrate — a cam- 
paign document.  With  a twinkle  of  the  eye,  in  strange 
contrast  with  the  diffidence  he  had  betrayed  at  the  effusive 
expressing  of  his  English  admirer,  he  said,  in  answer  to  the 
inquiry,  “ Pray  what  is  the  name  of  your  last  published 
romance,  Mr.  Hawthorne?”  “The  Life  of  Franklin 
Pierce,  I believe  !” 

Mr.  Hawthorne  would  not  travel,  if  it  could  be  helped, 
with  anyone  but  Mr.  Tieknor;  and  even  when  this  was  the 
case,  he  would  not  permit  his  own  name  to  be  registered  at 
the  hotels.  It  was  always  entered  on  the  books,  “ W.  D. 
Tieknor  and  friend.”  Mr.  Hawthorne  never  carried  any 
amount  of  money,  leaving  to  Mr.  Tieknor  the  paying  of  his 
hotel  bill  and  other  traveling  expenses. 

Mr.  Howard  M.  Tieknor  informs  me  that  when  his 
father  died  in  Philadelphia,  it  was  the  first  time  since 
arriving  at  manhood,  that  Hawthorne  had  ever  seen  a dead 
person,  and  never  before  had  seen  anyone  die.  The  state 
of  mind  in  which  young  Tieknor  found  him  was  that  of 
complete  bewilderment. 

Mr.  Tieknor  further  said:  “ My  father’s  friends  will 
remember,  the  quick  nervous  manner  he  had,  and  well 
as  Hawthorne  knew  him,  he  never  could  accustom  himself 
to  it.  I have  seen  him  seated  in  the  4 Old  Corner  Book- 
store ’ beside  my  father’s  desk,  and  when  he  asked  a ques- 
tion, if  my  father  looked  up  suddenly,  as  was  his  habit, 
Hawthorne’s  face  would  flush  like  a bashful  girl’s— then 
laughing  he  would  resume  the  conversation.” 

The  firm  of  Tieknor  & Fields  was  dissolved  by  the 
death  of  the  former.  In  one  of  Miss  Mitford’s  letters  to 
Mr.  Fields  she  writes  as  follows  : 

“ Never,  my  dear  friend,  did  I expect  to  like  so  well  a 
man  who  came  in  your  place,  as  I do  like  Mr.  Tieknor. 
He  is  an  admirable  person,  very  like  his  cousin  in  mind 
and  manners,  unmistakably  good.  It  is  delightful  to  bear 
him  talk  of  you,  and  to  feel  that  the  sort  of  elder  brother- 
hood which  a senior  partner  must  exercise  in  a firm  is  in 
such  hands.” 


JAMES  T.  FIELDS. 


619 


JAMES  T.  FIELDS. 

The  Author's  Friend , the  Poet  Publisher — Literary  Land- 
mark of  Boston — “ This  is  the  new  Sensation  book  ” — 
Young  Field's  early  literary  Habits — F.  P.  Whipple's 
interesting  Reminiscences — “ A few  Verses  for  a few 
Friends  " — Literary  Circles  thirty  years  ago — Letters 
to  Miss  Mitford — Retires  from  publishing  Books — 
Successful  career  as  a Lecturer — Death , and  tributes 
to  his  Memory — Memories  of  George  William  Curtis. 

'T'HE  author’s  friend,  the  poet  publisher,  the  popular 
lecturer,  well  known  and  beloved  by  all  interested  in 
the  world  of  letters — such  was  James  T.  Fields,  for  full 
forty  years  of  active  business  life,  and  to  no  one  connected 
with  the  book-trade  in  this  country  or  indeed  the  world, 
can  the  same  attributes  be  so  truthfully  applied. 

My  first  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Fields  commenced  in 
1850,  at  the  “ Old  Corner  Bookstore,”  of  Ticknor  & 
Fields,  who  for  a quarter  of  a century  were  well-known 
as  the  publishers  of  the  leading  poets  and  prose  writers, 
in  this  country,  as  well  as  in  Europe.  This  was  long  the 
leading  literary  landmark  of  Boston. 

I can  never  forget  Mr.  Fields’  kindly  attention  on  this, 
my  first  visit  to  that  city;  and  to  meet  with  him  was  always 
a pleasure,  as  I afterwards  did  at  Boston,  New  York  and 
Philadelphia,  where,  among  the  book  trade  Mr.  Fields  was 
universally  popular. 

Mr.  Fields  became  much  interested  in  the  publisher’s 
festival  which  was  given  to  American  authors,  at  the  Crys- 
tal Palace  in  New  York,  in  September,  1855.  On  that 
occasion  he  read  an  exceedingly  humorous  poem,  adapted 
to  the  occasion,  of  which  the  following  is  an  extract : 


&20 


JAMES  T.  FIELDS. 


u This  is  the  new  ‘ Sensation  ’ book — 

A work  of  so  much  force, 

The  first  edition  all  blew  up, 

And  smashed  a cart  and  horse! 

A friend  who  read  the  manuscript 
Without  sufficient  care, 

Was  torn  to  rags,  although  he  had 
Six  cables  round  his  hair! 

“ ‘ The  Eggs  of  Thought  ’ I’ll  recommend, 

As  very  thrilling  lays; 

Some  poets  poach — but  here  is  one 
That  all  the  papers  praise. 

The  School  Commissioners  out  West, 

Have  ordered  seventy  tons, 

That  widely  they  may  be  dispersed 
Among  their  setting  suns! 

“ And  here’s  a most  astounding  tale — 

A volume  full  of  tiro; 

The  author’s  name  is  known  to  fame, 

Stupendous  Stubbs,  Esquire! 

And  here’s  ‘The  Howling  Ditch  of  Crime,’ 

By  A.  Sapphira  Stress; 

Two  hundred  men  fell  dead  last  night 
A-working  at  the  press!” 

Mrs.  James  T.  Fields  has  prepared  an  account  of  her 
late  husband,  entitled  “ Biographical  Sketches,  with  unpub- 
lished Fragments  and  Tributes  from  Men  and  Women  of 
Letters.”  From  this  volume  I learn  that  while  yet  a lad  in 
the  employ  of  Carter  & Hendee,  a noted  book  house  at  that 
time  in  Boston,  that  : 

“Young  Fields  quickly  learned  all  details  of  business;  whole- 
sale and  retail  prices,  orders  needing  to  be  filled,  honest  and  dis- 
houestbuyersand  sellers,  persons  prompt  in  payment  and  otherwise, 
and  with  especial  quickness  at  once  observed  by  his  masters,  lie  was 
able  to  discover  what  books  were  to  be  popular.  He  acquired  also  a 
power,  considered  ‘ very  queer  ’ by  the  other  clerks,  of  seeing  a 


JAMES  T.  FIELDS. 


621 


person  enter  the  shop  and  predicting  what  book  was  wanted  before 
the  wish  was  expressed.  For  some  time  he  kept  this  to  himself, 
but  after  awhile,  on  its  being  discovered,  it  was  one  of  the  interests 
of  the  day,  among  the  clerks,  to  see  how  many  times  James  would 
be  right,  and  he  seldom  made  a miss.  He  thought  no  more  of 
reading  behind  the  counter,  that  idea  was  only  remembered  as  a 
boy’s  idle  fancy;  but  every  night  he  would  carry  home  an  armful 
of  books,  and  he  became  acquainted  with  a goodly  portion  of  their 
contents  before  morning.” 

Mr.  Edwin  P.  Whipple,  the  well  known  critic  and 
essayist,  who  was  the  earliest  of  Mr.  Fields*  intimate 
friends,  in  a recent  article  contributed  to  the  Atlantic 
Monthly , says  of  the  latter  : 

“One  of  the  most  notable  facts  in  the  lives  of  clerks  wTith  lit- 
erary tastes  and  moderate  salaries,  is  the  mysterious  way  in  which 
they  contrive  to  collect  books.  Among  the  members  of  the  Mercan- 
tile Library  Association,  Thomas  It.  Gould  (now  known  as  one  of 
the  most  eminent  sculptors  of  America).  Fields  and  myself,  had 
what  we  called  ‘ libraries  ’ before  we  were  twenty-one.  Gould  was 
a clerk  in  a dry-goods  jobbing  house;  Fields  in  a book-store;  1 in 
a broker’s  office.  Fields’  collection  much  exceeded  Gould’s  and 
mine,  for  he  had  in  his  rooms  two  or  three  hundred  volumes — 
the  nucleus  of  a library  which  eventually  became  one  of  the  choic- 
est private  collections  of  books,  manuscripts  and  autographs  in 
the  city.  The  puzzle  of  the  thing  was  that  we  could  not  decide 
how  we  had  come  into  the  possession  of  such  treasures.  We 
had  begun  to  collect  before  we  were  in  our  teens,  and  as  we  had 
neither  stolen,  or  begged,  we  concluded  that  our  ‘libraries’  rep- 
resented our  sacrifices.  In  the  evening,  after  the  day’s  hard  work 
was  over,  Gould  and  I drifted  by  instinct  to  Field’s  boarding- 
house; and  what  glorious  hilarity  we  always  found  in  his  room! 
He  was  never  dull,  never  morose,  never  desponding.  Full  of 
cheer  himself,  he  radiated  cheer  into  us.  As  years  rolled  on,  and 
Fields  became  a partner  in  the  house  which  he  had  served  as  a 
clerk,  the  proofs  multiplied  that  he  was  among  American  publish- 
ers, one  of  of  the  most  sagacious  judges  of  the  intrinsic  and  money 
value  of  works  of  literature.  As  I happened  to  witness  the  grad- 
ual growth  of  what  became  one  of  the  leading  publishing  houses 


622 


JAMES  T.  FIELDS. 


of  the  country,  and  as  I know  that  its  germinating  root  was  in  the 
brain  of  Fields,  I may  be  able  to  give  some  testimony  as  to  its  rise 
and  progress.  Fields  from  the  start  had  deliberately  formed  in 
his  mind  an  ideal  of  a publisher  who  might  profit  by  men  of  let- 
ters, and  at  the  same  time  make  men  of  letters  profit  by  him.  He 
thoroughly  understood  both  the  business  and  literary  side  of  his 
occupation.  Some  of  the  first  publications  of  the  house  belonged 
to  a light  order  of  literature,  but  they  still  had  in  them  that  in- 
definable something  which  distinguishes  the  work  of  literary 
artists  from  the  work  of  literary  artisans.” 

Ill  1858,  Mr.  Fields  privately  printed  a small  volume 
which  he  called  “ A few  Verses  for  a few  Friends."  I count 
myself  fortunate  in  being  one  of  these  few — when  he  had 
so  many — with  being  favored  with  an  autograph  copy.  He 
was  also  author  of  “ Underbrush,  a Volume  of  Essays,” 
“ Ballads  and  other  Verses  ” — and  in  connection  with  Mr, 
E.  P.  Whipple,  the  editor  of  a handsome  royal  octavo  vol- 
ume entitled,  “ The  Family  Library  of  British  Poetry, 
from  Chaucer  to  the  Present  Time.”  In  the  year  1871, 
Mr.  Fields  gave  to  the  public,  his  “ Yesterday  with  Au- 
thors,” which  gives  an  interesting  account  of  his  personal 
reminiscences  of  Hawthorne,  Thackeray  and  Dickens. 

Referring  again  to  Mrs.  Fields'  interesting  volume,  she 
writes  as  follows  : 

“We  find  the  correspondence  of  this  period  includes,  almost 
without  exception,  all  the  men  and  women  of  any  literary  note  in 
America.  His  correspondence  with  some  of  them  was  only  the 
beginning  of  friendships  which  were  uninterrupted  to  the  end, 
and  bringing  the  fruitage  he  most  valued  to  his  life.  Among  the 
letters,  beginning  at  this  time,  from  those  who  have  gone  from 
this  earthly  scene,  I find  those  of  Hawthorne,  Willis,  Mrs.  Anna 
Cora  Mowatt,  the  actress,  of  whom  Edgar  Poe  wrote:  ‘Her 
smypathy  with  the  profound  passions  is  evidently  intense.  This 
enthusiasm,  this  well  of  deep  feeling,  should  be  made  to  prove 
for  her  an  inexhaustible  source  of  fame.  Her  step  is  the  perfec- 
tion of  grace.  Often  I watched  her  for  hours  with  the  closest 
scrutiny,  yet  never  for  an  instant  did  I observe  her  in  an  attitude 
of  the  least  awkwardness  or  even  constraint,  while  many  of  her 


JAMES  T.  FIELDS. 


623 


seemingly  impulsive  gestures  spoke  iu  loud  terms  of  the  woman 
of  genius,  of  the  poet  imbued  with  the  profouudest  sentiment  of 
of  the  beautiful  in  motion.  ...  ‘A  more  radiantly  lovely 
smile  it  is  quite  impossible  to  conceive.’ 

‘‘Mrs.  Mowatt  was  much  beloved  by  her  friends,  and  al- 
ways counted  Mr.  Fields  among  them.  Fitz  Greene  Halleck’s 
letters  are  also  before  me,  and  brief  notes  of  Margaret  Fuller  and 
Mrs.  Kirkland ; letters  of  Miss  Catherine  Sedgwick  and  Epes  Sar- 
gent, Lewis  Gaylord  Clark,  J.  C.  G.  Brainanl  (whose  beautiful 
Sonnet  upon  Niagara  was  one  of  Mr.  Fields’  favorite  poems),  Bay- 
ard Taylor,  Charles  Sumner  and  Henry  B.  Hirsh. 

“The  mention  of  Brainard’s  name  recalls  a half-forgotten 
anecdote  Mr.  Fields  related  of  him,  as  told  by  Mr.  S.  G.  Goodrich. 
Brain  aid  was  a young  lawyer,  and  had  an  office  very  near  Mr. 
Goodrich’s.  They  were  too  poor  to  keep  a boy  to  light  their  fire  in 
the  winters,  so  they  were  in  the  habit  of  going  down  together  and 
making  them  with  their  own  hands.  One  morning  Brainard  had 
his  stove  open  to  put  in  the  fuel  when  the  Sonnet  of  Niagara  came 
to  him.  He  called  G.  in  and  repeated  the  lines.  ‘Write  it  down, 
write  it  down,’  said  G.,  ‘it  is  superb.’ 

“Mrs.  Seba  Smith,  also,  and  the  Davidsons,  are  found  in  this 
somewhat  heterogeneous  collection;  and  Dr.  Channing,  George  P. 
Morris,  Rufus  Griswold,  George  S.  Hillard,  Thomas  Crawford  the 
sculptor,  T.  B.  Read  and  many  others.” 

The  following  portions  of  a few  of  Mr.  Fields*  letters  to 
his  friend  and  correspondent,  Miss  Mitford,  give  a good 
idea  of  what  was  taking  place  in  American  literary  circles 
in  those  days  : 

“ Boston,  Nov.  10,  1849. 

“Dear  Miss  Mitford: 

“ Many  weeks  have  elapsed  since  I received  your  welcome  let- 
ter, and  I delayed  answering  till  now,  that  I might  send  you  a 
book  1 have  been  editing.  It  is  called  ‘The  Boston  Book,’  be 
cause  it  contains  the  contributions  of  our  metropolitan  writers. 
Among  our  Boston  men  you  will  find  the  names  of  Webster,  Pres- 
cott, Longfellow,  and  others  not  unknown  across  the  waters.  I 
did  not  include  Channing,  because  I have  not  printed  the  writings 
of  any  deceased  authors.  The  book  is  intended  as  a souvenir  to 
be  handed  to  a friend  as  a memento  of  our  city,  and,  I am  happy 
to  say,  a large  edition  is  already  sold. 


624 


JAMES  T.  FIELDS. 


“Mr.  George  Tickuor’s  ‘History  of  Spanish  Literature’  is 
going  through  the  press  rapidly.  It  will  be  ready  in  a few  weeks 
for  publication.  I made  your  compliments  as  expressed  in  your 
last  letter,  and,  lie  in  return,  with  his  family,  begs  his  kindest  re- 
gards. I hive  read  some  portions  of  his  book,  those  devoted  to 
the  ballad  literature  of  Spain,  and  am  greatly  charmed  with  the 
perusal. 

“I  am  busy  just  now  superintending  the  republicatiou  of  the 
complete  poems  of  Robert  Browning,  the  first  American  reprint. 
It  will  be  issued  by  our  house  in  a few  weeks.  I asked  my  friend, 
Mr.  Whipple,  to  send  jou  a copy  of  his  ‘Lectures,1  which  I am 
sure  you  will  like. 

“Mr.  Prescott  is  still  busy  with  his  ‘ History  of  Philip  II.  of 
Spain.’  He  is  not  determined  as  to  the  extent  of  his  iabor,  but  it 
will  undoubtedly,  be  one  of  his  longest  efforts,  and  I thihk  one 
of  his  most  successful  ones.1’ 

“Boston,  Jan.  7,  1851. 

“Pray  accept  my  thanks  for  Carlisle’s  speech.  It  is  well  done, 
and  is  another  evidence  of  his  honest  good  sense.  I send  you  a 
brace  of  volumes  by  his  friend,  Charles  Sumner,  a man  whose 
splendid  talents  (albeit  his  politics  are  unpopular)  will  send  him 
to  the  Senate  next  spring  we  hope.  I also  send  you  Holmes’  ot her 
volume  of  poems  and  his  late  pamphlet.  I am  sure  you  will  like 
Holmes.  He  is  a prodigious  favorite  in  Boston,  and  one  of  our  most 
eminent  physicians.  Hilliard's  address,  which  I enclose  in  the 
same  parcel,  is  very  well  thought  of  here  and  all  over  New  Eng- 
land.” 

During  Mr.  Fields’  connection  with  the  house,  it  ac- 
quired. the  first  reputation  in  the  country  by  the  high  char- 
acter of  its  publications,  which  embraced,  among  Ameri- 
can authors,  the  works  of  Everett,  Prescott,  Bryant,  Dana, 
Emerson,  Hawthorne,  Halleck,  Whipple,  Hillard,  Holmes, 
Longfellow,  Sumner,  Parsons,  Sprague,  Bayard  Taylor, 
Mrs.  Stowe,  Lowell,  Thoreau  and  Whittier. 

The  connection  of  the  firm  and  of  Mr.  Fields  personally 
with  foreign  authors  w'as  notable.  Fields’  first  visit  to 
Europe,  in  1847,  resulted  in  the  publication  of  De  Quin- 
cey’s  works,  of  which  no  collection  had  been  made  in  Eng- 
land. Thackeray  and  Dickens  also  made  the  firm  their 


JAMES  T.  FIELDS. 


625 


publishers  in  this  country.  Among  the  names  of  foreign 
authors  whose  works  have  been  published  by  the  firm  are 
Tennyson,  Barry  Cornwall,  Charles  Reade,  William  How- 
itt,  Lord  Houghton,  Charles  Kingsley,  Mayne  Reid,  the 
Brownings,  and  later  came  the  names  of  Mrs.  Jameson, 
Kingsley,  Philip  James  Bailey,  Thomas  Hughes,  Owen 
Meredith.  Matthew  Arnold,  Miss  Mulock,  Leigh  Hunt, 
and  many  others. 

In  1870,  Mr.  Fields  retired  from  the  guild  of  publishers 
which  he  had  so  long  adorned  and  of  which  he  had  been  a 
conspicuous  member  for  nearly  thirty  years.  Soon  after- 
wards he  gave  to  the  world  his  well  known  lectures  on 
England,  literature  and  literary  topics,  twenty-seven  in  all. 
Mrs.  Fields  says  in  her  biographical  notes  : 

“ I cannot  however,  allow  Mr.  Fields’  lectures  to  pass 
into  oblivion  without  striving  to  rescue  some  memory  of 
their  peculiar  qualities  and  influence.  For  this  purpose, 
in  order  that  no  mistake  may  be  made  by  substituting  pri- 
vate opinion  for  genuine  public  recognition,  I turn  to  the 
tributes  paid  him  through  the  newspapers  and  periodicals. 
In  one  of  the  Philadelphia  newspapers  I find  : ‘ We  do  not 
attempt  to  criticise  Mr.  Fields.  Ko  one  can,  without  lov- 
ing him,  listen  to  his  soft,  gentle  voice  in  the  quiet  conver- 
sational tone  with  which  lie  puts  his  audiences  in  warm 
personal  relations  with  him.” 

On  Sunday  evening,  April  24th,  1881,  James  T.  Fields 
died — died  as  suddenly  as  did  his  brother  publisher  and 
friend  George  P.  Putnam — died  as  did  his  author  friends 
Hawthorne,  Thackeray  and  Dickens,  whom  he  knew  and 
loved  so  well. 

After  his  death,  a meeting  of  publishers  and  booksell- 
ers was  held  at  the  bookstore  of  A.  Williams  & Co.,  who 
then  occupied  the  “Old  Corner  Book  Store,”  which  was 
for  so  many  )Tears  the  headquarters  of  the  late  firm.  Mr. 
Augustus  Flagg  was  chosen  chairman,  and  Benjamin  II. 
Ticknor,  secretary.  After  some  feeling  remarks  by  the 
chair,  the  following  memorial  was  offered  by  Mr.  James  R. 
Osgood  : 


27 


626 


JAMES  T.  FIELDS. 


“We,  the  publishers  and  booksellers  of  Boston,  assembled  in 
the  ‘ Old  Corner  Bookstore,1  deplore  the  sudden  death  of  our 
former  associate,  James  T.  Fields. 

“ Beginning  business  life  here  fifty  years  ago  he  rose,  by  in- 
dustry and  merit,  to  be  a partner  in  the  firm  which  identified 
itself  with  the  best  American  literature,  and  rendered  this  corner 
famous,  under  the  sign  of  Ticknor  & Fields. 

“ During  his  career  as  a publisher  he  showed  great  sagacity  in 
divining  the  taste  of  the  public,  and  in  discerning  and  encourag- 
ing merit  in  authors  since  become  eminent. 

“ He  united  with  the  good  sense  and  ability  of  a man  of  affairs, 
a taste  in  literature,  and  an  aptitude  for  authorship,  which  gave 
him  distinction  also  as  a man  of  letters. 

“ His  genial  disposition,  his  rare  social  qualities,  and  his 
kindly  sympathies,  not  only  endeared  him  to  his  business  associ- 
ates in  the  book  trade,  but  also,  in  a wider  circle,  attracted  friend- 
ship wherever  he  was  known,  and  made  him,  more  than  any  other 
publisher  of  our  day,  the  companion  and  friend  of  authors. 

“Since  his  retirement  from  business,  during  teu  years  more  of 
editing,  lecturing  and  authorship,  he  has  continued  the  acquain- 
tances, preserved  the  associations,  and  shown  in  his  writings  the 
influence  of  his  previous  life  as  a publisher  to  such  a degree  that 
we  could  claim  him  to  the  last  as  a member  of  our  fraternity. 

“Bearing  in  mind,  therefore,  his  worth  and  works,  and  our 
affection  for  him,  we  unite  in  expressing  our  profound  sorrow  at 
his  death,  and  in  tendering  to  his  family  our  sympathy  in  their 
bereavement.” 

In  offering  the  memorial,  Mr.  Osgood  said  : 

“ Others  are  present  whose  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Fields  began 
much  earlier  than  mine;  but  few,  perhaps,  knew  him  as  intimate- 
ly. In  sixteen  years  of  business  association  with  him,  I had  ample 
opportunity  to  know  him  under  all  aspects  and  in  all  relations.  I 
early  learned  to  appreciate  and  admire  those  qualities  which  gave 
him  such  marked  success  as  a publisher,  the  quick  literary  instinct, 
the  intuitive  knowledge  of  the  good  and  bad  in  a book,  the  ready 
apprehension  of  the  popular  taste,  and  the  constant  effort  to  lead 
that  taste  in  a higher  direction. 

“ We  are  assembled  now  in  the  place  where  he  passed  the  most 
of  his  business  life,  and  where  it  is  most  appropriate  that  we 


JAMES  T.  FIELDS. 


627 


should  meet  to  pay  our  sad  tribute  to  his  memory.  This  place 
brings  back  to  me  the  pleasantest  recollections  of  my  life  with 
him.  He  was  in  every  way  a delightful  business  associate.  He 
had  the  rare  art  of  smoothing  over  the  rough  places — an  art  whose 
presence  contributes  so  greatly  to  the  comfort,  not  only  of  him 
who  possesses  it,  but  of  all  those  about  him.  He  was  always  con- 
siderate of  the  feelings  of  others,  and  uniformly  courteous  and 
liberal  to  those  in  his  employ. 

“ One  trait  in  particular  characterized  him — his  readiness  to 
listen  to  the  story  of  any  one  who  came  before  him  as  an  applicant 
for  a situation,  and  the  sense  of  duty  he  always  felt  to  give  the 
applicant  every  possible  chance.  I myself  have  the  most  grateful 
remembrance  of  the  kindness  with  which  he  received  my  first 
modest  application  for  a situation  in  this  store  in  the  year  1855; 
and  the  kindness  thus  begun  never  varied  nor  faltered  during  the 
nine  years  in  which  I served  him  as  clerk.  His  presence  in  mo- 
ments of  business  anxiety  and  depression  served  as  a tonic ; in  short, 
in  his  business  life,  as  everywhere  else,  he  was  a signal  illustration 
of  that  gospel  of  cheerfulness  which  he  has  so  pleasantly  pro- 
claimed. Into  the  sacred  precincts  of  his  private  life  I shall  not 
attempt  to  enter.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  it  was  an  altogether 
happy  and  useful  life,  marked  by  the  same  qualities  of  generosity, 
courtesy  and  forbearance  which  I have  spoken  of  as  attending  his 
business  career.  Simple  and  frugal  in  his  own  habits  of  living, 
he  wTas  open-handed  in  his  charity  to  the  needy  and  in  his  gener- 
osity to  his  friends.  The  kindly  welcomes  and  generous  hospit- 
alities of  that  home,  now  darkened  by  sorrow,  will  long  be  cher- 
ished in  the  the  memories  of  all  who  have  shared  them.” 

In  closing  this  sketch  of  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments 
of  American  literature,  it  will  interest  my  readers,  I am 
sure,  to  read  the  following  from  George  William  Curtis,  for 
many  years  an  intimate  personal  friend  of  Mr.  Fields,  who 
thus  graphically  portrays  the  haunts  of  the  poets,  where 
the  latter  daily  received  his  ever  welcome  friends. 

“ The  annals  of  publishing  and  the  traditions  of  publishers  in 
this  country,  will  always  mention  the  little  Corner  Bookstore  as 
you  turn  out  of  Washington  Street  into  School  Street,  and  those 
who  recall  it  in  other  days,  will  always  remember  the  curtained 


628 


JAMES  T.  FIELDS. 


desk, at  which  poet  and  philosopher,  and  historian  and  divine,  and 
the  doubting  timid  young  author  was  sure  to  see  the  bright  face, 
and  to  hear  the  hearty  welcome  of  James  T.  Fields.  What  a 
crowded  busy  shop  it  was,  with  the  shelves  full  of  books,  and 
piles  of  books  upon  the  counters  and  tables,  and  loiterers  tasting 
them  with  their  eyes,  and  turning  the  glossy  new  pages — loiterers 
at  whom  you  look  curiously,  suspecting  them  to  be  makers  of  books 
as  well  as  readers!  You  knew  that  you  might  be  seeing  there  in 
the  flesh,  and  in  common  clothes,  the  famous  men  and  women 
whose  genius  and  skill  made  the  old  world  a new-  world,  for  every 
one  upon  whom  their  spell  lay.  Suddenly,  from  behind  the  great 
curtain,  came  a ripple  of  laughter — then  a burst,  a chorus;  gay 
voices  of  two  or  three  or  more,  but  always  of  one — the  one  who 
sat  at  the  desk,  and  whose  place  was  behind  the  curtain,  the  lit- 
erary partner  of  the  house,  the  friend  of  the  celebrated  circle, 
which  has  made  the  Boston  of  the  middle  of  this  century,  as  justly 
renowned  as  the  Edinburgh  of  the  close  of  the  last  century — the 
Edinburgh  that  saw  Burns,  but  did  not  know  him.  That  curtained 
corner  in  the  Corner  Bookstore,  is  remembered  by  those  who  knew7 
it  in  its  great  days.  What  merry  peals!  What  fun,  and  chaff, 
and  story!  Not  only  the  poet  brought  his  poem  there  still  glow- 
ing from  his  heart,  but  the  lecturer  came  from  the  train  with  his 
freshest  touches  of  local  humor.  It  was  the  exchange  of  wit,  the 
Rialto  of  current  good  things,  the  hub  of  the  hub. 

“ And  it  was  the  work  of  one  man.  Fields  was  the  genius  loci. 
Fields,  with  his  gentle  spirit,  his  generous  and  ready  sympathy, 
his  love  of  letters  and  of  literary  men,  his  fine  tastes,  his  delighful 
humor,  his  business  tact  and  skill,  drew,  as  a magnet  draws  its 
own,  every  kind  of  man,  the  shy  and  the  elusive,  as  well  as  the 
gay  men  of  the  world  and  the  self  possessed  favorites  of  the  peo- 
ple. It  wms  his  pride  to  have  so  many  of  the  American  worthies 
upon  his  list  of  authors,  to  place  there  if  he  could  the  English 
poets  and  belles  letters  writers,  and  then  to  call  them  all  per- 
sonal friends.  Next  year  it  will  be  forty  years  since  the  house  at 
the  Corner  Bookstore,  issued  the  two  pretty  volumes  of  Tennyson’s 
poems,  which  introduced  Tennyson  to  America.  Barry  Cornwall 
followed  in  the  same  dress.  They  caught  all  the  singing-birds 
at  that  corner,  and  hung  them  up  in  the  pretty  cages  so  that  every 
body  might  hear  the  song. 

“ It  was  a very  remarkable  group  of  men  indeed — it  was  the 
first  group  of  really  great  American  authors,  which  familiarly 


JAMES  T.  FIELDS. 


629 


frequented  the  corner  as  the  guests  of  Field.  There  had  been 
Bryant  and  Irving,  and  Cooper  and  Halleck,  and  Paulding,  and 
Willis,  in  New  York,  but  there  had  been  nothing  like  the  New 
England  circle.  It  was  that  circle  which  compelled  the  world  to 
acknowledge  that  there  was  an  American  literature.  Of  most  of 
these  authors  the  house  at  the  corner  came  to  be  the  publishers; 
and  to  the  end  they  maintained  the  warmest  relations  with  Field, 
who  was  not  their  publisher  only  but  their  appreciative  and  sym- 
pathetic friend.” 

Mr.  H.  M.  Alden,  editor  of  Harpers’  Monthly  Maga- 
zine, wrote  : — “ The  Messrs.  Harpers  desire  me  to  express 
their  sense  of  the  great  loss  sustained  by  American  Litera- 
ture, in  the  departure  of  one  who,  as  author  and  publisher, 
contributed  so  much  to  its  excellence,  and  to  its  good  re- 
pute at  home  and  abroad.” 

In  expressing  his  own  feelings  of  personal  loss,  he 
wrote:  “ Into  the  darkest  hour  of  my  life,  he  came,  giving 
life  and  hope.  I can  never  forget  it.  Turning  to  him  first 
because  I found  help  in  him — how  much  else  I found  ! Only 
those  who  knew  him  nearly  knew  his  greatness  and  his 
goodness.” 


XLIII. 

SOME  WASHINGTON  FRIENDS. 


Hawthorne’s  early  Friend — How  (( Twice-Told  Tales”  was 
published — “ We  were  lads  together  ” — “ Journal  of  an 
African  Cruiser” — Hawthorne' s last  Visit  to  Washing- 
ton— Interesting  letter  from  Commodore  Bridge — What 
I saw  in  London — First  Life  of  General  Pierce — Haw- 
thorne writes  another — On  the  Ocean  with  Beecher 
and  Chapin — Beecher  sea-sick  but  “ Always  abound- 
ing”— Secretary  of  Chinese  Embassy — Chilton’s  Au- 
thor and  Artist  Friends — Anecdote  of  Thackeray — 
“ Knick-Knacks  from  the  Editor’s  Table” — Shelley’s 
Widow  in  love  icith  Irving — Amusing  Anecdote  of 
Elliott — The  progress  of  half  a Century — Interesting 
letter  from  Frances  E.  Spinner — Hoiv  an  old  Court  was 
abolished  and  a new  one  Created — “A  woman’s  Letter 
from  Washington’’  Alary  Clemmer  and  Charles  Sum- 
ner— A Novelist  and  a Poet — The  Librarian  of  Con- 
gress— Spojford’s  loyig  Experience — The  right  Alan  in 
the  right  Place. 

TF  the  reader  of  this  volume  will  turn  to  the  sketch  of  S. 

G.  Goodrich,  on  page  115,  he  will  find  a letter  from  that 
well-known  author  to  Horatio  Bridge,  of  Augusta,  Maine, 
regarding  the  publication  of  a volume  of  Hawthorne. 

HORATIO  BRIDGE  was  a classmate  of  Nathaniel  Haw- 
thorne in  college,  and  probably  the  most  intimate  friend  that 
distinguished  author  ever  had.  To  Mr.  Bridge  the  world  is 
[630] 


HORATIO  BRIDGE. 


631 


indebted  for  the  publication  of  Hawthorne’s  “ Twice-Told 
Tales,”  the  first  work  of  the  author  published  in  book  form. 

That  Mr.  Hawthorne  fully  realized  the  value  of  the 
friendship,  and  pecuniary  assistance  of  his  early  friend,  is 
fully  demonstrated  in  his  preface  to  the  “Snow  Image,” 
one  of  the  sketches  in  “Twice-Told  Tales,”  a portion  of 
which  is  here  given  : 

“ Be  all  this  as  it  may,  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  pro- 
priety of  my  inscribing  this  volume  of  earlier  and  later  sketches  to 
you,  and  pausing  here  a few  moments  to  speak  of  them,  as  friend 
speaks  to  friend,  still  being  cautious  however,  that  the  public  and 
the  critics  shall  overhear  nothing  which  we  care  about  concealing. 
On  you,  if  on  no  other  person,  I am  entitled  to  rely,  to  sustain  the 
position  of  my  dedicatee.  If  anybody  is  responsible  for  my  being 
at  this  day  an  author,  it  is  yourself.  I know  not  whence  your 
faith  came,  but  while  we  were  lads  together,  at  a country  college, 
gathering  blueberries  in  study  hours,  under  those  tall  academic 
pines,  or  watching  the  great  logs,  as  they  tumbled  along  the  current 
of  the  Androscoggin;  or  shooting  pigeons  or  gray  squirrels  in  the 
woods,  or  bat-fowling  in  the  summer  twilight,  or  catching  trouts 
in  that  shadowy  little  stream,  which,  I suppose,  is  still  wandering 
riverward  through  the  forest,  though  you  and  I will  never  cast  a 
line  in  it  again,  two  idle  lads,  in  short  (as  we  need  not  fear  to  ac- 
knowledge now),  doing  a hundred  things  that  the  Faculty  never 
heard  of,  or  else  it  had  been  the  worse  for  us.  Still,  it  was  your 
prognostic  of  your  friends  destiny  that  he  was  to  be  a writer  of 
fiction.  And  a fiction-monger  in  due  season  he  became.  But, 
was  there  ever  such  a weary  delay  in  obtaining  the  slightest  recog- 
nition from  the  public,  as  in  my  case  ? I sat  down  by  the  wayside 
of  life  like  a man  under  enchantment,  and  a shrubbery  sprung  up 
around  me,  and  the  bushes  grew  to  be  saplings,  and  the  saplings 
became  trees,  until  no  exit  appeared  possible  through  the  en- 
tangling depths  of  my  obscurity.  And,  there,  perhaps  I should 
be  sitting  at  this  moment,  with  the  moss  on  the  imprisoning  tree 
trunks,  and  the  yellow7  leaves  of  more  than  a score  of  autumns 
piled  above  me,  if  it  had  not  been  for  you.  For  it  was  through 
your  interposition — and  that,  moreover,  unknown  to  himself — that 
your  early  friend  was  brought  before  the  public,  somewhat  more 
prominently  than  theretofore,  in  the  first  volume  of  ‘Twice-Told 


632 


HORATIO  BRIDGE. 


Tales.’  Not  a publisher  in  America,  I presume,  would  have  thought 
well  enough  of  my  forgotten  or  never-noticed  stories,  to  risk  the 
expense  of  print  and  paper.  Nor,  do  I say  this  with  any  purpose 
of  casting  odium  on  the  respectable  fraternity  of  booksellers,  for 
their  blindness  to  my  wonderful  merit.  To  confess  the  truth,  I 
doubted  quite  as  much  of  the  public  recognition,  quite  as  much  as 
they  could  do.  So  much  the  more  generous  was  your  confidence, 
and  knowing,  as  I do,  that  it  was  founded  on  old  friendship,  rather 
than  cold  criticism,  1 value  it  only  the  more  for  that/’ 

In  1845,  while  living  at  Concord,  Hawthorne  edited  a 
volume  entitled,  “ The  Journal  of  an  African  Cruiser.” 
The  origin  of  the  book  was  this: — Early  in  1843,  he  sug- 
gested to  his  friend  and  classmate  Horatio  Bridge — a pay- 
master— afterwards  paymaster-general  of  the  Navy,  who 
was  attached  to  a ship  of  war,  under  orders  to  the  West 
Coast  of  Africa,  the  plan  of  keeping  a journal  during  the 
cruise,  for  publication.  To  this  Mr.  Bridge  readily  assent- 
ed, but  with  the  condition  that  in  the  event  of  the  journal 
being  published,  Hawthorne  should  have  the  sole  profit  of 
the  copyright. 

Paymaster  Bridge  thought  if  found  too  desultory  to  in- 
terest general  readers,  the  keeping  the  journal  would  not 
have  been  an  unpleasant  occupation  for  the  writer’s  leis- 
ure hours. 

The  outcome  of  this  plan  was  the  appearance  in  1845 
of  the  volume  above  mentioned. 

It  was  brought  out  by  Wiley  & Putnam,  the  first  of 
the  series  of  volumes  of  the  “ Library  of  Choice  Read- 
ing” 

In  relation  to  this  book,  the  editor  of  the  “Library,” 
wrote  Hawthorne  as  follows  : 

“ 20  Clinton  Place,  October  2,  1845. 

“ . . . The  Journal  of  the  “ African  Cruiser  ” has  just 

gone  to  a second  edition  of  a thousand  copies,  the  first,  I believe, 
having  been  two  thousand. 

“ W.  and  P.  project  a cheap  series  of  these  books  for  the  School 
District  Libraries,  in  the  first  of  which  the  “Journal  ” will  be  in- 
cluded. 


HORATIO  BRIDGE. 


633 

“ The  English  notices  are  bounteous  in  praise.  No  American 
book,  in  a long  time,  has  been  so  well  noticed. 

“ Yours  truly, 

“ Evert  A.  Duyckinck.” 

Hawtliorne  took  great  interest  in  tlie  journal  and 
hoped  that  it  would  turn  his  friend's  attention  somewhat 
from  the  routine  of  his  naval  life  to  the  more  quiet  field  of 
authorship. 

Knowing  the  intimate  relations  between  Mr.  Hawthorne 
and  Commodore  Bridge,  I asked  him  during  a recent  visit 
to  Washington  if  he  would  kindly  favor  me  with  some 
account  of  the  former's  last  visit  to  Washington  in  1862. 
To  this  request  I have  received  the  following  reply,  for 
which  I am  certain  the  admirers  of  that  now  famous  author 
will  feel  greatly  indebted  : 

“Washington,  D.  C.,  June  13th,  1884. 
“J.  C.  Derby,  Esq. 

“ Dear  Sir  : 

“ You  ask  me  to  give  you  some  reminiscences  of  Haw- 
thorne’s visit  to  me  in  Washington  in  1862,  of  which  we 
spoke,  when  I had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you. 

“ Briefly  then  ; in  reply  to  an  invitation  to  spend  a 
month  or  two  with  me,  he  wrote  the  following  letter: 

“Concord,  February  13th,  1862. 

“Dear  Bridge: 

“Your  proposition  that  I should  pay  a visit  toWashington  is  very 
tempting,  and  I should  accept  it  if  it  were  not  for  several  ‘ ifs  ’ — 
neither  of  them,  perhaps,  sufficient  obstacle  in  itself,  but,  united, 
pretty  difficult  to  overcome.  For  instance,  I am  not  very  well,  being 
mentally  and  physically  languid  ; but  I suppose,  there  is  about  an 
even  chance  that  the  trip  and  change  of  scene  might  supply  the  en- 
ergy which  I lack.  Also,  I am  pretending  to  write  a book ; and 
though  I am  nowise  diligent  about  it,  still,  each  week  finds  it  a lit- 


,634 


HORATIO  BRIDGE. 


tie  more  advanced;  and  I am  now  at  a point  where  I do  not  like  to 
leave  it  entirely.  Moreover,  I ought  not  to  spend  money  need- 
lessly, in  these  hard  times  : for  it  is  my  opinion  that  the  book- 
trade,  and  everybody  connected  with  it,  is  bound  to  fall  to  zero, 
before  the  war  and  the  subsequent  embarrassment  come  to  an  end. 
I might  go  on  multiplying  ‘ ifs,’  but  the  above  are  enough.  Never- 
theless, as  I said,  I am  greatly  tempted  by  your  invitation,  and 
it  is  not  impossible  that  in  the  course  of  a few  weeks,  I may  write 
to  ask  you  if  it  still  holds  good.  Meanwhile  I send  you,  enclosed, 
a respectable  old  gentleman,  who,  my  friends  say,  is  very  like  me, 
and  may  serve  as  my  representative.  If  you  will  send  me  a simi- 
lar one  of  yourself,  I shall  be  truly  obliged.  ... 

“ Your  friend, 

“Nath.  Hawthorne.” 

“In  response  to  a renewed  invitation  to  make  the  visit, 
whenever  convenient,  Hawthorne  came  to  Washington  in 
March,  and  spent  a month  with  me — in  the  midst  of  the 
stirring  scenes  of  the  time  and  place. 

“ My  own  duties  were  too  engrossing  to  allow  me  to  give 
him  all  the  personal  attention  desirable  ; but  with  the 
quiet  of  his  room — the  power  to  come  and  go  at  will — 
sitting  to  Leutze  for  his  portrait — the  association  with  our 
friends — an  excursion,  with  me  to  Fortress  Monroe,  by 
steamer — an  occasional  visit  to  Congress  or  the  White 
House — one  or  two  trips  to  McClellan’s  headquarters  in 
Virginia,  and  a visit  to  the  Bull  Run  battle-fields  and  other 
points  of  interest,  with  Mrs.  Bridge  and  Dicey  the  English 
writer — his  time  was  pleasantly  occupied,  and  he  almost 
regained  his  old  health  and  spirits. 

“ One  of  the  results  of  this  visit  was  the  article  in 
the  Atlantic  Monthly , published  soon  after,  entitled 
‘ Chiefly  about  War  Matters/ 

“Another  and  a more  important  one,  was  the  improve- 
ment in  his  health  and  spirits,  as  shown  in  the  following 
letter,  received  just  after  his  return  home  : 


HORATIO  BRIDGE. 


635 


“Concord,  April  13th,  ’02. 

“ Dear  Bridge: 

“Yours,  enclosing  two  photographs  of  Professor  Henry,  is 
received.  I reached  home  safe  and  sound,  after  a very  disagree- 
able journey.  It  is  a pity  I did  not  wait  one  day  longer,  to  have 
shared  in  the  joyful  excitement  about  the  Petersburg  victory  and 
the  taking  of  Island  No.  10.  I found  the  family  in  good  health.  . . . 

“ They  all  think  me  greatly  improved  by  the  journey  and  ab- 
sence, and  are  grateful  to  Mrs.  Bridge  and  yourself  for  your  kind 
attentions.  “ Your  friend, 

“Nath.  Hawthorne.” 

“ In  that  year,  and  the  one  next  following,  Hawthorne 
published  f Our  Old  Homeland  did  some  other  literary 
work  : but  the  springs  of  life  were  running  low,  and  the 
great  brain  was  growing  tired. 

“Early  in  April,  1864 — much  debilitated — he  left  home 
for  Washington  with  Mr.  Ticknor.  He  had  reached  Phil- 
adelphia, and  his  health  began  to  improve.  I was  looking 
forward  to  the  pleasure  of  soon  seeing  him  again  in  Wash- 
ington, when  the  sudden  death  of  Mr.  Ticknor,  by  par- 
alysis, caused  Hawthorne  to  turn  sadly  homeward,  and  to 
abandon  the  hope  that  the  approach  to  a more  genial 
climate  had  given  him. 

“The  shock,  doubtless,  accelerated  his  own  death; 
which  occurred  a few  weeks  later,  while,  with  his  friend, 
‘ Frank ' Pierce,  he  was  journeying  slowly  toward  the 
White  Mountains. 

“ They  buried  him  under  his  own  favorite  pines  ; but 
I could  not  have  the  sad  privilege  of  looking  once  more  on 
that  loved  face,  for  it  was  impossible  to  leave  Washington 
just  at  that  time,  to  join  the  friends,  who  mournfully  bore 
his  body  to  its  resting  place. 

“ Very  truly  yours, 

“ Horatio  Bridge.” 

At  the  time  of  Hawthorne's  visit  above  referred  to, 
Commodore  Bridge  was  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Provisions 


636 


DAVID  W.  BARTLETT. 


and  Clothing  in  the  Navy  Department,  a position  which 
he  held  for  fifteen  years.  Although  the  Commodore  is 
now7  on  the  retired  list  he  still  retains  the  title  of  Paymas- 
ter-General of  the  Navy. 

He  still  resides  in  Washington,  where  he  and  his  accom- 
plished wrife  are  passing  the  afternoon  of  their  lives,  in  the 
society  of  their  friends,  and  their  refined  and  pleasant 
home. 


DAVID  W.  BARTLETT. 

TT^HEN,  in  the  year  1852,  Franklin  Pierce,  was  nomin- 
* * ated  for  the  Presidency  by  the  Democratic  party, 
there  was  a general  desire  among  those  interested  in  poli- 
tics, to  learn  something  of  a candidate  of  whom  little  or 
nothing  was  known,  and  who  vras  nominated  over  the  old 
party  leaders. 

Accordingly,  I determined  to  gratify  their  wishes,  and 
immediately  engaged  a young  writer  to  prepare  a campaign 
life  of  General  Franklin  Pierce,  of  New  Hampshire,  the 
man  who  was  destined  to  defeat  a greater  general,  in  the 
“ hero  of  Lundy’s  Lane.” 

David  W.  Bartlett,  of  Avon,  Connecticut,  wras  at  that 
time  in  Auburn,  reading  the  proof-sheets  of  a volume  of  his 
then  going  through  the  press  of  Derby  & Miller,  entitled 
“ What  I saw  in  London  ; or,  Men  and  Things  in  the  great 
Metropolis.” 

Mr.  Bartlett,  although  quite  young,  was  a very  expedi- 
tious writer,  which  is  a necessary  requisite  in  campaign 
biographers,  and  he  proceeded  at  once  on  his  trip  to  Con- 
cord, New  Hampshire,  the  residence  of  General  Pierce. 
Stopping  at  Hartford,  he  procured  a very  cordial  letter,  in- 
troducing him  to  Mr.  Pierce,  from  General  Pratt,  chairman 
of  the  Democratic  State  Committee  of  Connecticut  (and 
who  had  served  with  General  Pierce  in  the  Mexican  war). 
The  latter  was  aware,  although  an  ultra  pro-slavery  Dem- 


DAVID  W.  BAKTLETT. 


637 


ocrat,  that  the  young  author  was  a fiery  “ Free-Soiler 99 
hut  he  had  faith  in  Bartlett's  ability  and  candor. 

Arriving  at  Concord,  General  Pierce  received  him  very 
cordially,  and  immediately  put  him  in  the  way  of  procur- 
ing the  necessary  material  for  a campaign  life.  The  first 
night  he  sat  up  with  young  Bartlett  in  his  library,  until 
long  past  midnight,  relating  interesting  incidents  in  his 
career — these,  with  the  anecdotes  which  afterwards  ap- 
peared in  the  book,  were  all  taken  from  his  own  lips. 
Bartlett’s  Life  of  General  Franklin  Pierce  was  pub- 
lished in  the  summer  of  1852. 

General  Pierce  became  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  soon  after  the  inauguration,  Bartlett,  being  in 
Washington,  was  taken  by  General  Pratt,  who  had  been 
elected  a member  of  Congress,  to  the  White  House  to  see 
the  President.  Introducing  him,  he  said,  f‘  Mr.  President, 
I don't  come  this  time  to  ask  for  an  office.  Mr.  Bartlett 
is  a rank  abolitionist,  and  would  not  serve  under  a Demo- 
cratic President,  if  we  wanted  him  to — which  we  do  not.” 
The  President  was  much  amused  on  thus  learning  for  the 
first  time  the  politics  of  his  youthful  biographer. 

When  the  volume  was  ready  for  publication,  we  an- 
nounced it  as  the  “Authorized  edition”  which  led  to  a 
controversy  with  Ticknor  & Fields,  who  had  in  press  an- 
other biography  of  Franklin  Pierce,  by  Nathaniel  Haw- 
thorne, the  classmate  and  friend  of  the  nominee.  The 
matter  was  finally  compromised  by  adopting  the  word 
“authentic,”  for  Bartlett’s  “ Life  of  Pierce'’ — Ticknor  & 
Fields  using  the  word  “ authorized.”  Mr.  Bartlett  relates 
in  a note  to  me  an  incident  which  occurred  while  he  was 
reading  the  proof-sheets  in  Auburn. 

“ I will  in  this  connection  recall  a curious  incident 
connected  with  this  period,  while  I was  reading  the  proofs 
of  ‘ Pierce  ' in  Auburn.  You  took  me  a fishing  one  day,  and 
seeing  two  little  boys  near  the  stream,  you  offered  to  pay 
them  to  come  along  and  take  care  of  bait  and  ‘ the  catch.' 
By  some  blunder,  one  of  the  lads  caught  the  hook  on  your 


638 


DAVID  W.  BARTLETT. 


line  in  his  thumb,  burying  it  so  deeply  that  we  had  to 
take  him  to  a surgeon  to  have  it  cut  out.  More  than  thirty 
years  after,  I was  one  day,  asking  the  present  clever  and 
polite  chief  clerk  of  the  State  department,  Sevellon  A. 
Brown,  Esq.,  where  he  was  going  for  his  summer  vacation, 
and  he  replied,  4 To  Auburn/  That  led  to  memories  of 
my  stay  in  Auburn  with  you,  and  finally  to  that  day’s  fish- 
ing. When  I was  through,  Mr.  Brown  exclaimed  with 
evident  astonishment,  4 Is  it  possible  that  you  are  the 
young  man  who  was  that  day  with  Mr.  Derby.  Well , I 
was  one  of  those  two  little  boys  !’  lie  was  now  (and  has 
been  for  twelve  years)  the  chief  clerk  of  the  State  depart- 
ment, as  I was  (and  am)  American  Secretary  of  the 
Chinese  Legation,  and  after  thirty  years  we  thus  strangely 
discovered  our  earlier  meeting  !” 

Mr.  Bartlett  is  also  the  author  of  a life  of  Lady 
Jane  Grey  and  of  44  Pen  Portraits  of  Modern  Agitators.” 

He  has  long  been  a resident  of  Washington,  where,  for 
years,  he  was  the  Washington  correspondent  of  the  New 
York  Evening  Post  and  the  New  York  Independent . 

44 What  I saw  in  London”  was  of  sufficient  interest  to 
receive  from  Dr.  Ripley,  a notice  of  several  columns  in  the 
New  York  Tribune.  Mr.  Bartlett,  referring  to  his  last 
voyage  to  Europe,  writes  me  as  follows  : 

44  The  second  trip  I went  in  the  sailing  vessel  4 New 
World/  Capt.  E.  Knight.  The  good  captain  was  a member 
of  Plymouth  Church,  and  this  time  he  had  his  pastor  aboard 
as  passenger  ; Mr.  Beecher,  Rev.  Dr.  Chapin,  the  celebrated 
Univeralist  preacher,  Dr.  Bullard  and  one  other  clergyman 
were  present.  Indeed  there  were  so  many  clergymen  that 
the  sailors  predicted  disaster.” 

44  Mr.  Beecher  was  very  ill,  not  leaving  his  berth  for  a 
week.  The  first  Sunday  morning  that  he  was  on  deck  I 
remember  that  a group  was  gathered  round  him  listening 
to  his  conversation,  which  happened  to  be  upon  his  early 
ministerial  life  in  Indiana.  Just  then  his  brother-in-law, 
Rev.  Dr.  Bullard,  came  up  and  notified  us  that  divine  serv- 


DAVID  W.  BARTLETT. 


639 


ice  would  be  held  immediately  in  the  cabin.  Beecher 
turned  to  us  young  people  and  with  a roguish  twinkle  in  his 
eye,  said : ‘ Go  down,  young  men  ! but  I think  that 
my  stories  will  do  you  more  good  in  this  salt  air  than 
brother  Bullard's  preaching  in  that  stifling  cabin  !'  With 
two  passengers  like  Beecher  and  Chapin,  it  will  easily  be 
believed  that  we  did  not  lack  displays  of  wit  and  humor. 
Most  of  it  has  escaped  me,  but  I remember  that  the  second 
Sunday  out  was  very  tempestuous  so  that  one  could  not 
stand  alone  on  deck.  Chapin  was  near  the  head  of  the 
companion-way  holding  on.  Beecher  came  slowly  up  the 
stairs,  and,  as  his  head  emerged,  saw  the  former  and  ex- 
claimed, Brother  Chapin,  “be  ye  steadfast,  immovable  !"' 
Dr.  Chapin  instantly  continued  the  scripture  quotation, 
* “and  always  abounding  /"  ’ — moving  his  right  hand  up 
and  down  by  way  of  illustration." 

“ Capt.  Knight  one  day  knocked  down  a refractory  sailor 
— the  punishment  being  richly  deserved.  Dr.  Chapin  said 
jocosely  that  f Brother  Beecher  might  have  to  discipline 
his  stalwart  church-member!'  The  latter  replied,  ‘Ho, 
he  is  on  his  own  deck  now  ; when  I get  upon  mine  in 
Plymouth  Church,  I will  attend  to  him  !' " 

“ The  captain  was  one  of  the  noblest  of  men  and  was 
greatly  beloved  by  his  pastor.  Two  years  before,  I sailed 
out  of  the  port  of  Liverpool  with  him,  and  a ship  of  the 
same  line  which  sailed  out  with  us — the  f Ocean  Monarch,' 
caught  fire,  and  burned  down  to  the  waters  edge  in  full 
sight.  The  number  lost  was  one  hundred  and  seventy-five, 
and  Capt.  Knight's  boats  saved  eighty.  I had  taken  pas- 
sage in  the  ‘ Ocean  Monarch,'  but  finding  to  my  surprise 
that  the  6 New  World ' was  in  port,  I sought  a release  from 
my  engagement  with  the  owners  of  the  former  vessel, 
which  they  with  courtesy  agreed  to."* 

“In  January,  1851,  I received  a letter  from  Mr.  Beecher, 
asking  me  to  take  a little  pains  to  see  that  Mr.  Greeley, 
who  was  soon  to  be  in  London,  received  the  attention  which 
* See  page  273. 


640 


ROBERT  S.  CHILTOlSr. 


his  great  personal  merits  deserved,  and  which,  owing  to  his 
modesty  and  the  excitement  attending  the  World's  Fair 
might  be  overlooked.  I find  in  the  letter  a few  sentences 
full  of  interest  in  regard  to  the  anti-slavery  cause,  which 
just  then  to  the  superficial  observer  seemed  to  be  at  a low 
ebb,  not  so  thought  Mr.  Beecher.  He  wrote  to  me  in  1851, 
‘The  outside  of  things  indicates  retrogression , but  it  is 
not  so.  I am  persuaded  that  it  will  be  found  that  the  anti- 
slavery cause  has  never  gained  so  much  in  so  short  a time. 
Our  friends  abroad  should  remember  that  we  are  fighting  a 
moral  battle.  The  victory  is  not  to  be  a mere  term  of 
offices  but  the  moral  growth  of  a whole  land.'  Subsequent 
history  has  proved  the  truth  of  this  prophecy." 

Mr.  Bartlett  has  filled  for  a number  of  years  the  im- 
portant position  of  American  Secretary  to  the  Chinese 
Embassy  at  Washington,  with  great  ability  and  with 
satisfaction  to  the  Chinese  officials  as  well  as  the  American 
people. 


ROBERT  S.  CHILTON. 


LTHOUGH  the  subject  of  this  sketch  has  never  pub- 


lished  a volume,  he  has  written  enough  good  prose 
and  poetry  to  make  a very  creditable  volume  if  put  in 
book-form. 

Mr.  Chilton  has  been  a resident  of  Washington  the 
greater  portion  of  his  life,  and  was  personally  acquainted 
with  the  authors  and  artists  who  have  resided  temporarily  at 
the  capital.  Among  his  special  friends,  were  the  late 
Frederick  S.  Cozzens,  Lewis  Gaylord  Clarke,  Charles  L. 
Elliott,  and  Emanuel  Leutze. 

During  my  residence  in  Washington  in  the  winter  of 
1881-2,  I saw  much  of  Mr.  Chilton,  who  at  that  time  was 
the  head  of  one  of  the  Bureaus  in  the  Department  of  State. 
His  position  brought  him  into  personal  relations  with 
the  United  States  representatives  abroad — among  others, 


ROBERT  S.  CHILTON. 


641 


Mr.  W.  P.  Chandler,  who  succeeded  John  Howard  Payne, 
author  of  “ Home  Sweet  Home/’  as  United  States  Consul 
at  Tunis. 

Mr.  Chandler  had  in  his  possession,  and  submitted  to 
Mr.  Chilton,  the  MSS.  left  by  John  Howard  Payne,  which 
contained,  with  other  interesting  letters,  the  correspondence 
between  the  latter  and  the  widow  of  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley. 
Mr.  Payne  had  introduced  Mrs.  Shelley  to  Washington 
Irving,  who  became  greatly  attached  to  the  latter.  The 
former  said  in  one  of  her  letters  that  Mr.  Irving  was  the 
only  man  in  the  world  that  she  could  marry,  and  not  lose 
her  station  as  the  widow  of  Shelley.  In  the  correspondence 
it  appeared  that  Mrs.  Shelley  was  very  much  in  love  with 
Irving,  and  that  the  latter  felt  rather  shy  of  her. 

When  the  handsome  monument  was  recently  erected  in 
Washington  by  that  noble  philanthropist  and  patriot  Wil- 
liam W.  Corcoran,  the  latter  selected  Kobert  S.  Chilton 
to  write  the  ode  on  the  occasion  of  its  unveiling,  which  he 
read  as  follows  : 

“ The  exile  hath  returned,  and  now  at  last 
In  kindred  earth  his  ashes  shall  repose. 

Fit  recompense  for  all  his  weary  past, 

That  here  the  scene  should  end — the  drama  close. 

“Here,  where  his  own  loved  skies  o’erarch  the  spot, 

And  where  familiar  trees  their  branches  wave  ; 

Where  the  dear  home-born  flowers  he  ne’er  forgot 
Shall  bloom,  and  shed  their  dews  upon  his  grave, 

“ Will  not  the  wood-thrush,  pausing  in  her  flight, 

Carol  more  sweetly  o’er  this  place  of  rest  ? 

Here  linger  longest  in  the  fading  light, 

Before  she  seeks  her  solitary  nest  ? 

“Not  his  the  lofty  lyre,  but  one  whose  strings 

Were  gently  touched  to  soothe  our  human  kind, — 

Like  the  mysterious  harp  that  softly  sings, 

Swept  by  the  unseen  fingers  of  the  wind.” 


642 


EOBEET  S.  CHILTON. 


“ The  home-sick  wanderer  in  a distant  land, 

Listening  his  song  hath  known  a double  bliss, 

Felt  the  warm  pressure  of  a father’s  hand, 

And,  seal  of  seals!  a mother’s  sacred  kiss. 

“ In  humble  cottage,  as  in  hall  of  state, 

His  truant  fancy  never  ceased  to  roam 
O’er  backward  years,  and — irony  of  fate  ! — 

Of  home  he  sang,  who  never  found  a home  ! 

“ Not  e’en  in  death,  poor  wanderer,  till  now  ; 

For  long  his  ashes  slept  in  alien  soil. 

Will  they  not  thrill  to-day,  as  round  his  brow 
A fitting  wreath  is  twined  with  loving  toil  ? 

“ Honor  and  praise  be  his  whose  generous  hand 
Brought  the  sad  exile  back,  no  more  to  roam  ; 

Back  to  the  bosom  of  his  own  loved  land — 

Back  to  his  kindred,  friends,  his  own  Sweet  Home  /” 

Mr.  Chilton,  in  a recent  note  to  me,  says  : 

“ A singular  and  pleasing  incident  occurred  while  I 
was  reading  the  third  stanza  of  the  poem,  “ Will  not  the 
wood  thrush,  etc."  I had  just  uttered  these  wor'ds  when  a 
bird — a thrush,  I think — perched  and  sang  from  the  limb 
of  a tree  over  my  head  and  towards  which  I chanced  to 
look.  Others  observed  this  and  spoke  of  it  afterwards. 
Wasn't  it  strange  ? For  the  moment  it  possessed  me  with 
a feeling  I cannot  well  describe." 

Mr.  Chilton  relates  the  following  anecdote,  which  was 
told  him  by  his  friend,  the  late  Frederick  S.  Cozzens. 

“ When  Thackeray  was  in  New  York  in  1856,  he  often 
spent  an  evening  at  the  Century  Club,  with  many  of  whose 
members  he  became  quite  intimate.  Frederick  S.  Cozzens 
(‘  Sparrowgrass  ’)  being  of  the  number,  at  whose  home  at 
Yonkers  (Chestnut  Cottage)  Thackeray  once  dined  and 
passed  the  night.  Before  going  to  bed  at  a late  hour,  he 
asked  his  host  for  a book,  stating  that  it  was  his  habit  to 
read  himself  to  sleep.  ‘Give  me  something  new,  some- 
thing that  I hav'n’t  seen  before,  if  you  can/  said  he.  Hav- 


ROBERT  S.  CHILTON. 


643 


ing  just  received  a copy  of  Lewis  Gaylord  Clarke’s  ‘ Knick- 
Knacks  from  an  Editor’s  Table,’  Cozzens  handed  him  the 
volume,  thinking  it  might  amuse  him.  It  was  brought 
down  by  Thackeray  in  the  morning  and  placed  upon  the 
library  table  with  the  remark — 4 Cozzens,  you  couldn’t 
have  been  happier  in  your  selection  of  a book  for  me  last 
night.  It  was  just  what  I wanted,  for  I hadn’t  finished 
reading  the  first  page  before  I was  so  overcome  with  sleep 
that  I had  to  put  the  light  out.’  This  was  rough  on  poor 
Clarke,  but  the  dear  old  boy  enjoyed  the  joke,  when  it  was 
told  him,  as  keenly  as  anybody — as  who  that  knew  him 
could  doubt  ?” 

Among  Mr.  Chilton’s  intimate  friends,  was  the  late 
Charles  S.  Elliott,  whose  portrait  of  Fletcher  Harper  is 
believed  to  be  as  near  a perfect  representation  of  the  hu- 
man face  as  was  ever  produced  by  a portrait  painter.  He 
relates  of  him  the  following  amusing  incident. 

“ Among  the  many  anecdotes  told  of  Elliott,  the 
painter,  which  I recall,  the  following  as  illustrating  a strong 
trait  of  his  amiable  character — a disposition  to  encourage 
young  and  struggling  members  of  his  profession — and 
being  highly  comic  withal,  is  one  of  the  funniest,  and,  as 
I happen  to  know,  founded  on  fact. 

“ Elliott  at  one  time  occupied  a studio  on  the  upper  floor 
of  a building  on  Broadway  opposite  the  Art  Union  Gallery. 
On  the  floor  beneath,  a young  landscape  painter,  newly 
come  to  the  city  and  quite  unknown,  had  set  up  his  easel 
and  painted  a few  pictures.  He  had  called  several  times 
upon  Elliott,  whom  he  greatly  admired  as  artist  and  man, 
and  begged  him  to  call  at  his  studio  to  look  at  what  he 
had  been  doing,  which  Elliott  had  promised  to  do,  and  did 
so  one  day;  unintentionally,  however,  for  he  was  making 
his  way,  not  without  labor,  to  his  own  room  on  the  floor 
above,  and  thought  he  had  reached  it,  when  he  entered 
the  young  painter’s  studio,  considerably  ‘set  up,’ as  un- 
fortunately was  too  often  the  case  with  him,  poor  fellow. 
He  perceived  his  mistake,  but  made  the  best  of  the  situa- 


644 


FRANCIS  E.  SPINNER. 


tion,  and  seated  himself  opposite  an  easel  on  which  his 
young  friend  placed  a half-finished  landscape  for  his  in- 
spection. ‘ That's  good/  said  Elliott,  i very  good,  ’at’s 
capital  head — good  modelling,  good  color,  I like  the  beard 
ev’  so  much/  ‘ But  Mr.  Elliott/  said  the  young  artist, 
who  had  begun  by  this  time  to  take  in  the  situation,  ‘this 
is  a landscape  you  are  looking  at.  You  know  I paint 
nothing  but  landscapes/  ‘ 0 !’  said  Elliott,  settling  him- 
self back  in  his  chair  and  stroking  his  long  beard,  ‘ is  ’at 
so  ? a landscape  painter,  eh  ? Well,  s’pose  you  paint  my 
landscape,  jus’  ’s  I am  Y” 

Mr.  Chilton  is  at  present  filling  the  post  of  United 
States  Consul  at  Goderich,  Ontario. 


FRANCIS  E.  SPINNER. 

~PRANCIS  E.  SPINNER,  the  late  Treasurer  of  the 
United  States,  whose  mysterious  autograph  became 
so  familiar  on  the  national  greenback  currency,  was  an 
early  friend  of  my  father  as  well  as  myself,  botn  of  us  be- 
ing natives  of  Herkimer,  N.  Y.  Mr.  Spinner  was  long  a 
Democratic  member  of  Congress  from  the  Herkimer  dis- 
trict, but  after  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  became  a 
member  of  the  Republican  party.  His  position  in  Wash- 
ington as  United  States  Treasurer  naturally  brought  him 
into  close  relations  with  many  eminent  men.  In  a recent 
note  to  me  he  says  : 

“ It  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  have  known  nearly 
all  the  great  and  good  men  of  the  country  who  have  figured 
in  public  life  within  the  last  half  century. 

“ You  and  I have  lived  in  an  age  when  the  world  made 
more  progress  than  it  had  done  in  twenty  centuries  before 
our  time.” 

In  another  letter,  Mr.  Spinner  gives  me  the  following 
interesting  account  of  how  an  old  court  was  abolished,  and 
a new  one  created. 


FRANCIS  E.  SPINNER. 


645 


“ When,  in  the  early  spring  of  1881,  I was  appointed  by  Presi- 
dent Lincoln,  Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  I called  upon  Judge 
Merrick,  then  the  Chief  Judge  of  the  United  States  District  Court 
for  the  District  of  Columbia,  at  his  own  house,  in  Washington,  in 
order  to  take  the  oath  of  office  prescribed  by  law.  The  judge 
lefused  to  administer  it  to  me.  I said  to  him,  ‘ The  law  requires 
that  the  oath  shall  be  administered  by  a judge  of  a United  States 
court.’  He  replied,  ‘I  am  aware  of  that,  but  there  is  no  law 
compelling  me  to  do  it.’  On  ray  urging  him  for  the  reason  for 
his  refusal  to  act,  he  insolently  replied,  4 1 consider  a man  holding 
your  political  opinions,  as  being  unfit  to  hold  any  office,  and  I will 
not  be  a party  to  qualify  you  to  do  so.’ 

“When,  later,  the  assessment  and  collection  of  the  income 
tax,  was  being  put  in  operation,  the  question  came  up,  whether  it 
could  be  collected  on  the  salaries  of  the  judges  of  United  States 
courts.  I took  the  ground  that  it  could,  and  deducted  from  my 
drafts  for  their  quarterly  salaries,  the  amount  of  said  tax.  Soon 
after  the  draft  was  sent  to  Judge  Merrick,  I received  a letter  from 
him,  in  which  he  stated,  that  the  draft  was  for  an  amount  less 
than  usual,  and  that  he  thought  it  probable  that  I had  deducted 
an  income  tax  from  his  salary,  and  if  that  was  the  case,  I must 
send  to  him  the  amount  so  deducted  at  once,  or  write  him  that  I 
would  add  the  amount,  so  deducted,  to  my  next  quarterly  remit- 
tance to  him.  He  argued  that  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  his  salary  was  fixed,  and  that  it  could  not  be  reduced 
by  act  of  Congress,  nor  by  an  executive  officer.  At  this  time 
the  judge  was  known  to  be  an  open  secessionist,  and  a sympa- 
thizer with  those  engaged  in  rebellion.  In  the  meantime,  I had 
received  a letter  from  the  United  States  judge  for  the  District  of 
Delaware,  in  which  lie  returned  my  draft  to  him,  for  the  reason, 
that  not  enough  had  been  retained  to  meet  the  tax.  I returned 
him  the  draft  and  wrote  him  that  the  law  levying  the  tax  did 
not  take  effect  until  the  middle  of  the  quarter,  and  hence  the  tax 
was  less  than  it  would  be  for  a full  quarter.  I caused  the  letter 
of  the  Delaware  judge  to  be  copied,  and  enclosed  the  copy  in  a 
letter  in  answer  to  Judge  Merrick,  in  which  I stated,  that  I did 
so,  to  point  out  to  him  the  difference  between  a loyal  judge  and 
himself ; and  that,  while  I would  not  discuss  with  him  the  ques- 
tion whether  Congress  had,  or  had  not,  the  constitutional  right 
to  tax  the  salaries  of  United  States  judges,  I would  suggest  to  him, 
that  it  certainly  had  the  right  to  abolish  his  damned  rebel  court. 


646 


FRANCIS  E.  SPINNER. 


“ On  the  next  day  I received  a letter  from  the  judge,  in  which 
he  said,  that  my  letter  to  him  was  of  such  an  extraordinary  char- 
acter that  he  had  felt  it  his  duty  to  send  it  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  in  order  to  my  removal  from  office.  A day 
or  two  afterwards,  I had  occasion  to  submit  a paper  to  Governor 
Chase,  the  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  while  he  was 
reading  it,  he  showed  my  letter  to  Judge  Merrick,  that  was  lying 
before  him  on  the  table,  over  to  me,  and  asked  me  what  I had 
to  say  to  that.  I answered  that  ‘ had  I known,  when  I wrote 
the  letter,  that  the  judge  would  send  the  letter  to  the  President, 
and  that  it  would  be  submitted  to  you,  I would  have  written  it 
a damned  sight  stronger.’ 

“ The  Secretary  undertook  to  give  me,  sternly,  a lecture  on 
official  etiquette,  urging  that  the  different  branches  of  the  govern- 
ment should  act  in 'harmony  with  each  other,  and  that  comity 
required  respectful  language  in  all  communications  passing  between 
them.  Mr.  Chase,  finding  that  I would  not  yield  as  to  the 
correctness  of  my  conduct,  at  length  said,  good  naturedly,  ‘ Well, 
General,  while  I feel  that  your  letter  is  very  pertinent  to  the  subject , 
it  is  very  impertinent  to  the  judge.' 

“Mr.  Whitelaw  Reid,  the  now  talented  editor  of  the  Tribune , 
was  then  the  Washington  correspondent  of  a leading  Cincinnati 
newspaper.  He  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Governor  Chase,  and 
from  him  he  obtained  these  facts,  and  they  were  published  in  the 
paper  of  which  he  was  the  correspondent.  His  communication 
was  extensively  copied  by  papers  in  all  part  of  the  loyal  States. 
Members  of  Congress  saw  it,  laughed  at  it,  as  a good  joke;  but, 
after  a little,  viewed  it  in  another  light,  and  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion to  cari-y  out  the  joke.  So  a bill  was  introduced  in  Congress, 
and  became  a law,  by  which  the  then  United  States  Court  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  was  abolished , and  the  judges  were  abolished 
as  well.  The  same  act  created  a new  court  of  which  Judge  Car- 
ter, of  Ohio,  became  the  chief  justice,  and  Messrs.  Wiley  of 
Virginia,  and  Olin  of  New  York,  became  associate  justices.  The 
last-named  is  dead,  the  other  two  now,  after  twenty  odd  years’ 
service,  still  hold  their  places.  That’s  the  way,  and  the  reason 
why,  the  present  United  States  Court  of  the  District  of  Columbia 
was  created.  The  present  judges  have,  no  doubt,  enjoyed  the 
joke  hugely,  ever  since;  but,  it  is  believed  that  it  has  never  been 
fully  appreciated  by  Judge  Merrick.” 


MARY  CLEMMER  HUDSON. 


647 


MARY  CLEMMER  HUDSON. 

YY7H0  has  not  read  the  bright  sparkling  and  incisive 
" " letters,  which  have  been  published  in  the  New 
York  Independent  for  nearly  twenty  years,  under  the  head- 
ing “ A Woman’s  Letter  from  Washington?”  Probably 
there  has  been  no  series  of  letters  covering  so  long  a time 
ever  written  from  that  city,  or  indeed  any  city,  with  so 
wide  a range  of  descriptive  thought  and  pen  pictures  of 
eminent  men  and  women. 

During  the  first  year  of  the  civil  war,  I had  occasion  to 
visit  Washington,  and  also  the  good  fortune  to  be  the  es- 
cort of  this  charming  writer  on  her  first  visit  to  that  city. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  Mary  Clemmer’s  residence 
at  the  capital,  where  for  nearly  a quarter  of  a century, 
she  has  been  a feature  in  literary  and  social  circles. 

One  of  Mary  Clemmer’s  earliest  and  valued  friends  in 
her  new  home  was  the  late  Charles  Sumner,  of  whom  she 
once  wrote:  “ A man  solitary  by  the  primal  law  of  his  na- 
ture, preoccupied,  absorbed,  aristocratic  in  instinct,  though 
a leveler  in  ideas,  never  a demagogue,  never  a politician — 
he  is  the  born  master  and  expounder  of  fundamental  prin- 
ciples.” Knowing  Charles  Sumner  as  I did,  I believe  this 
description  of  him  is  faithful  in  the  extreme.  The  follow- 
ing note  from  that  Senator  indicates  the  value  and  esteem 
with  which  he  regarded  her. 

“Senate  Chamber,  22d  March,  1871. 

“ I have  always  thought  of  you  with  honor,  and  with  a constant 
desire  to  know  personally  one  who  does  so  much  by  her  pen,  for 
ideas  which  I have  much  at  heart.  I hope  that  you  will  pardon 
me  if  I say  that  we  are  co-workers  in  the  same  field.  I am  so  lit- 
tle abroad,  that  we  have  not  met,  but  I trust  it  may  not  be  so 
always.  “ Sincerely  yours, 

“ Charles  Sumner.” 


648 


AINSWORTH  K.  SPOFFORD. 


Mary  Clemmer  is  also  a clever  novelist  and  a fine  poet. 
Two  of  her  novels— “ Eirene  ” and  “ His  Two  Wives,”  were 
well  received  by  the  public,  also  a volume  of  poems,  “ Life 
and  Nature,”  and  her  beautiful  memorial  volume,  ‘‘Alice 
and  Phoebe  Cary,”  is  referred  to  at  length  elsewhere.  Mary 
Clemmer  Hudson  died  in  Washington,  August  18th,  1884. 


AINSWORTH  K.  SPOFFORD. 


S Librarian,  Spofford  is  the  compiler  of  the  valuable 


treasury  of  knowledge  known  as  “ The  American 
Almanac,”  now  in  the  seventh  year  of  its  publication, 
his  name  properly  belongs  in  these  pages.  He  was  also 
a bookseller  in  Cincinnati,  when  I first  knew  him  more 
than  thirty  years  ago,  when  he  was  the  junior  member  of 
the  well-known  book  house  of  Truman  & Spofford  of 
that  city.  Mr.  Spofford  was  appointed  librarian  of  the  Con- 
gressional library  by  President  Lincoln  in  1864,  and  has 
filled  that  responsible  position,  not  only  to  the  satisfaction 
of  Congress,  but  to  the  public  who  have  had  occasion  to 
visit  that  immense  collection  of  books,  most  of  which  are 
published  in  this  country. 

Mr.  Spofford’s  long  experience  in  the  book  business,  and. 
especially  as  librarian,  has  eminently  fitted  him  to  become 
the  expert  that  he  is  in  the  requirements  which  depend  so 
much  upon  the  knowledge  of  the  books  in  the  library,  and 
in  what  place  they  may  readily  be  found. 

Mr.  D.  B.  Cooke,  long  a well  known  bookseller  of 
Chicago,  but  previously  a neighbor  of  Mr.  Spofford  in  Cin- 
cinnati, in  his  interesting  “Memories  of  the  Book-trade” 
in  the  Publishers'  Weekly,  says  : 

“ Mr.  Spofford,  of  the  firm  of  Trum;in  & Spofford,  was  always 
a studious  bookseller,  a young  man  whose  aim  was  to  be  master 
of  his  business.  His  intuitive  grace  and  his  culture  eminently 
fitted  him  for  his  present  honorable  and  responsible  position  as 
Librarian  of  Congress.5’ 


XLIV. 


NEW  YORK  VETERANS  OF  THE  BOOK 
TRADE. 

A Patriarch  among  Publishers — A School-teacher  turns 
Bookseller — Cheapest  book  ever  Published — Pluck  and 
Enterprise  Successful — Books  for  Sunday  School  Li- 
braries— Peter  Carter  and  Scotia’s  Bards — Ba?idolph’s 
Letter  to  Irenceus — A Favorite  Bookstore  for  New 
Yorkers — Two  Donkeys  for  Motive  Power — Ban- 
dolph  a Good  Talker — “ What  an  Old  Fellow  You 
Are  /” — Yan  Nostrand’s  Military  Books — Important 
Engineering  Works — A Monarch  in  his  Chosen  Field 
— A famous  Law-Book  House — Favorite  resort  of 
brilliant  Lawyers — A book  Clerk  leaves  the  printing 
trade — Agreeable  relations  with  Authors — An  histori- 
cal Book  House — The  record  of  many  Firms — “ In 
print  or  out  of  print” — Oldest  Book  Prhiter  in  Amer- 
ica— Trow’s  City  Directory — Made  University  Printer 
— John  Keese  the  Witty  Auctioneer — Fried , Boasted 
and  Stewed — Charles  Collins  continues  Business  alone . 

T>OBERT  CARTER,  the  venerable  senior  member  of  the 
firm  of  Robert  Carter  & Brothers,  had  no  experience 
whatever  in  book  publishing,  or  bookselling  trade,  on  the 
day  that  he  opened  his  book  store  in  1834. 

Mr.  Carter  had  been  a successful  school-teacher,  num- 
bering among  his  pupils  many  who  afterwards  became  emi- 
nent in  political  and  religious  circles.  He  had  determined 
in  his  own  mind  to  change  his  vocation  to  that  of  a mer- 
chant, and  without  any  mercantile  experience,  bought  out 
the  stock  of  an  insolvent  bookseller,  and  renting  a store  in 

[649] 


650 


ROBERT  CARTER. 


Canal  Street,  began  selling  books  and  stationery  in  the 
month  of  April,  1834. 

It  was  in  this  bookstore,  six  years  later,  that  I first  met 
Robert  Carter,  who  had  then  become  a publisher  of  reli- 
gious books.  He  had  just  published  D’Aubigne’s  “ His- 
tory of  the  great  Reformation,”  a work  which  was  im- 
mensely popular  at  that  time,  especially  in  Auburn  and  its 
vicinity,  where  I had  recently  established  myself  in  the 
book  business. 

The  popularity  of  D’Aubigne’s  History  (which  was  first 
published  in  three  duodecimo  volumes  at  three  dollars),  was 
so  great  that  a rival  publisher  in  Philadelphia  brought 
out  an  edition  in  small  type  and  cheap  binding,  at  a very 
low  price.  The  young  publisher,  however,  was  equal  to 
the  occasion,  issuing  immediately,  on  cheaper  and  thinner 
paper,  an  edition  which  he  sold  for  one  dollar  per  set.  The 
cheapness  of  the  work  produced  great  excitement,  and  tens 
of  thousands  of  sets  were  sold,  as  rapidly  as  they  could  be 
manufactured.  Of  course,  such  a book,  at  such  a price, 
easily  extinguished  the  piratical  publisher,  and  although 
the  profits  accruing  therefrom  were  not  so  large  for  the 
original  publisher,  it  was  a good  indication  of  his  pluck 
and  enterprise. 

Mr.  Carter’s  first  publication  was  “ Symington  on  the 
Atonement  and  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ.”  It  was  the 
general  impression  that  this  work  would  have  no  demand, 
but  a Christian  gentleman  of  wealth,  who  is  still  living  and 
well  known  as  a liberal  civic  benefactor,  ordered  one  hun- 
dred copies,  which  was  considerable  encouragement  to  the 
young  bookseller  and  his  friends. 

In  1848,  Mr.  Carter  took  into  partnership  his  two 
brothers,  Walter  and  Peter  Carter,  and  the  style  of  the 
firm  (Robert  Carter  & Brothers)  has  remained  the  same 
until  this  day.  In  the  year  1874,  Robert  Carter,  Jr.,  the 
son  of  the  senior  member,  was  admitted  to  the  firm. 

Their  publications  are  chiefly  of  a religious  nature, 
every  evangelical  denomination  being  represented  in  their 


A.  D.  F.  RANDOLPH. 


651 


catalogue,  the  most  important  of  which  are,  Matthew 
Henry’s  “Commentary  on  the  Bible,”  Sprague’s  “An- 
nals of  the  American  Pulpit,”  the  works  of  Jonathan 
Edwards,  Thomas  Chalmers,  and  many  other  distinguished 
divines.  Their  list  also  contains  probably  the  largest 
series  of  juvenile  books  adapted  to  Sunday  School  libraries, 
ever  issued  by  any  single  house  in  this  country,  and  it 
also  embraces  some  excellent  books  of  fiction,  numbering 
altogether  more  than  fifteen  hundred  different  kinds,  theirs 
being  the  largest  list  of  religious  works  published  by  any 
house  in  America. 

Mr.  Peter  Carter  is  also  something  of  an  author,  having 
written  several  juvenile  books  and  also  published  a vol- 
ume of  travels  in  Scotland,  and  compiled  a volume  entitled 
“ Scotia’s  Bards,”  being  a selection  of  the  best  productions 
and  biographical  sketches  of  the  Scottish  poets. 

A.  D.  F.  RANDOLPH,  the  life-long  friend  of  Robert 
Carter,  voices  the  opinion  of  the  latter’s  host  of  friends  in 
the  concluding  paragraphs  of  the  following  letter  to  Rev. 
Dr.  Prime,  editor  of  the  New  York  Observer  : 

“ When  you  were  a country  pastor,  and  I was  a boy  in  a book- 
store in  Nassau  Street,  there  was  on  the  corner  of  Canal  and  Lau- 
rens Street  (now  South  Fifth  Avenue)  a small  building,  over  the 
doorway  of  which  was  a sign,  ‘ Robert  Carter,  Bookseller.’  I am 
not  sure  that  our  friend  began  his  business  on  this  spot,  but  I do 
know  that  on  the  first  of  April,  1884,  he  will  have  been  for  fifty 
years  a bookseller  and  publisher. 

“Iam  aware  that  in  the  minds  of  some  persons,  the  business  of 
book  publishing  and  bookselling  is  nothing  more  than  the  manu- 
facture and  sale  of  merchandise;  but  this  is  not  your  opinion  or 
mine.  So  you  will  agree  with  me,  that  fifty  years  of  a life  devo- 
ted as  this  has  been  to  the  making  of  books,  not  one  of  which 
might  make  men  worse,  but  ought  to  make  them  better,  may  wTell 
have  a word  of  recognition  in  the  columns  of  the  Observer. 

“And  thus  for  half  a century  he  has  been  doing  a wholesome, 
honest,  beneficent  work.  He  has  seen  great  changes;  seen  also 
the  wonderful  development  of  the  publishing  business  in  this 
country.  He  has  passed  through  many  seasons  of  general  business 


652 


A.  D.  F.  RANDOLPH. 


depression,  and  yet  maintained  his  own  credit  unimpaired.  Year 
by  year,  as  his  business  grew  into  larger  proportions,  he  still 
continued  to  conduct  it  with  dignity,  integrity  and  success  . . . 
Who  can  estimate  the  value  and  the  extent  of  his  influence,  as  a 
publisher?  What  a factor  it  has  been  in  the  religious  education 
of  the  country  ! . 

“ He  has  survived  all  those  who  were  his  early  contemporaries 
in  the  trade.  You  will  recall  them  all:  the  elder  Harpers,  Daniel 
Appleton,  John  P.  Haven,  Jonathan  Leavitt,  Roe  Lockwood, 
George  P.  Putnam.  He  remains  still  vigorous,  cheerful,  hopeful ; 
still  interested  in  the  world’s  needs  and  progress,  and  ever  ready 
to  aid  a worthy  cause.  Beloved  and  honored  by  all  who  person- 
ally knew  him,  he  is  not  only  without  enemies,  but  with  troops 
of  friends  the  whole  land  over.” 

Mr.  Randolph  is  himself  a publisher  of  many  choice 
books,  largely  of  a religious  character,  and  some  of  them 
very  popular.  He  is  also  very  widely  known  as  the  pro- 
prietor of  the  oldest  and  best-appointed  retail  bookstore 
in  New  York.  It  is  a favorite  resort  for  the  book-buyers 
of  our  oldest  and  best  known  families,  he  having  occupied 
that  position  for  more  than  thirty  years. 

It  is  nearly  fifty  years  since  I first  met  Mr.  Randolph. 
We  were  then  both  clerks,  he  being  employed  at  that  time 
by  the  American  Sunday  School  Union,  of  which  J.  C. 
Meeks  was  the  New  York  agent,  the  office  being  held  in 
the  old  American  Tract  Society  building,  where  Daniel 
Fanshaw,  the  well-known  printer,  had  his  large  offices  on 
the  top  floor. 

Mr.  Randolph  well  remembers  when  two  donkeys  on 
the  top  floor  were  the  only  motive  power  which  propelled 
Mr.  Fanshaw’s  printing-presses.  Juvenile  books  in  those 
early  days  wrere  not  very  numerous,  indeed  so  limited  in 
number,  that  Mr.  Randolph  says  he  could  probably  have 
carried  one  of  each  kind  in  his  arms. 

I frequently  had  occasion  to  purchase  books  of  young 
Randolph,  when  a bookseller  at  Auburn.  We  were  younger 
then,  it‘  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  than  now.  He  com- 


DAVID  VAN  NOSTKAND. 


653 


menced  as  a boy  clerk  in  1830,  serving  a part  at  his  ap- 
prenticeship, by  wheeling  hooks  on  a wheelbarrow,  that 
being  the  method  among  the  trade  in  those  days,  in  de- 
livering supplies  to  the  booksellers. 

Mr.  Randolph  is  a good  talker  ; at  the  gatherings  of  the 
trade,  whether  for  festival,  discussing  copyright  questions, 
or  bearing  tribute  on  memorial  occasions,  his  eloquent 
words  have  often  been  heard,  and  always  received  with 
marked  attention.  When  Mr.  Randolph  first  read  the 
notice  in  the  Publisher's  Weekly  “Fifty  Years  a Pub- 
lisher,” he  wrote  me  from  the  country,  as  follows  : 

“What  an  old  fellow  you  are!  Why  don't  you  feel 
ashamed  at  being  so  old  ? I went  into  the  trade  in  1830. 
I have  been  here  since  June  30th,  and  this  with  one  excep- 
tion is  the  longest  holiday  I have  had  in  fifty-three  years. 
But  I have  had  a very  good  time  in  this  life,  and  am  grate- 
ful that  I can  say  that  life  is  worth  living,  and  grateful, 
most  of  all,  that  I have  been  taught  and  believe  that 
there  is  another  life  still  better  than  this.  May  we  know 
each  other  there  !'' 

DAVID  VAN  NOSTRAND  is  well  and  favorably  known 
in  this  county  and  also  in  Europe  as  the  publisher  of 
military  books,  and  scientific  publications.  At  the  early 
age  of  fifteen  he  entered  the  services  of  John  P.  Haven,  who 
was  the  New  York  agent  for  the  important  publications 
of  Crocker  & Brewster,  of  Boston.  This  was  in  the  year  1826. 

Mr.  Van  Nostrand  first  began  business  fifty-three  years 
ago,  under  the  firm  of  Van  Nostrand  & Dwight,  which 
' lasted  for  three  years,  when  that  firm  dissolved,  and  an  in- 
terregnum of  twelve  years  enabled  Mr.  Van  Nostrand  to 
pursue  his  favorite  scientific  studies,  and  especially  of  books 
on  Engineering — this  brought  him  into  close  relations  with 
the  United  States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  as  well 
as  various  private  military  and  scientific  institutions,  who 
gave  him  their  orders  for  supplies  on  so  large  a scale  as  to 
finally  induce  him  to  open  business  again  on  his  own 
account,  which  he  did  in  1848. 


654 


DAVID  VAN  NOSTRAND. 


Beginning  to  publish  books,  he  soon,  by  close  attention 
to  business,  built  up  an  extensive  trade. 

The  late  Mr.  Trubner,  in  his  London  Literary  Record , 
once  said,  “that  the  United  States,  although  prolific 
in  practical  applications  of  science,  had  been,  through  ob- 
vious causes,  somewhat  sterile,  until  a quite  recent  date, 
of  literary  expositions  of  its  works,  but  that,  of  late 
years,  there  had  been  a great  and  rapid  development  of 
such  works,  and  with  no  name  is  this  development  more 
intimately  associated  than  that  of  Mr.  Van  Nostrand.” 
Again  this  English  journal  remarked  that  “as  a gentleman 
of  extensive  and  varied  information,  of  genial  and  attrac- 
tive character,  eminent  business  capacity,  and  of  important 
achievements  in  his  profession,  Mr.  Van  Nostrani  stands 
prominent  among  the  publishers  of  the  day.” 

The  following  will  give  an  idea  of  the  extent  and  variety 
of  the  subjects  embraced  in  the  publications  of  Mr.  Van 
Nostrand,  which  comprise  thorough  treatises,  many  of 
them  elaborately  illustrated,  on  architecture,  carpentry, 
building,  astronomy,  navigation,  shipbuilding,  meteorol- 
ogy, brewing,  distilling,  wine-making,  chemistry,  physics, 
philosophy,  coal,  coal  oil,  gas,  drawing,  painting,  photog- 
raphy, electricity,  electric  telegraph,  engineering,  machin- 
ery, mechanics,  geology,  mineralogy,  mining,  metallurgy, 
hydraulics,  hydrostatics,  iron,  steel,  life  insurance,  mathe- 
matics, ordnance  and  gunnery,  military  engineering,  mili- 
tary history,  records  of  war,  and,  in  fact,  almost  every  spe- 
cialty in  science  and  art. 

Mr.  Van  Nostrand’s  most  important  books  are  Weis- 
bach’s  “ Mechanics,”  with  nearly  one  thousand  wood-cut 
illustrations,  Francis’s  “ Lowell  Hydraulics,”  to  produce 
which  cost  forty  thousand  dollars,  Whipple  and  Roebling 
on  “Bridge  Building,”  General  Gilmore  on  “Limes  and 
Cements,”  Holly  on  “ Ordnance  and  Armor,”  General  Mey- 
er’s (Old  Probabilities)  “ Manual  of  Signals,”  Scott’s  “ Mil- 
itary Dictionary,”  Casey’s  “ United  States  Infantry  Tac- 
tics,” of  which  more  than  eighty  thousand  copies  have  been 


BAKER,  VOORHIES  & CO. 


655 


sold,  Jomini’s  “ Life  of  Napoleon,”  translated  by  the  late 
General  Halleck,  and  the  “Rebellion  Record  ” in  twelve 
volumes,  illustrated  with  many  steel  portraits. 

There  is  probably  no  list  of  books  in  the  country  of  so 
exclusively  standard  character  as  those  which  appear  on 
Mr.  Van  Nostrand’s  Catalogue.  He  is  indeed  a monarch 
in  his  chosen  field,  and  all  his  friends  and  patrons,  indeed 
everyone,  who  has  ever  had  any  dealings  with  him  will  wish 
him  all  the  prosperity  which  he  merits  and  enjoys. 

BAKER,  VOORHIES  & CO.,  the  well  known  law-hook 
house,  was  established  by  the  late  John  S.  Voorhies  in 
1842,  and  continued  by  him,  on  his  Own  account,  until  his 
death  in  1865. 

I frequently  had  dealings  with  Mr.  Voorhies,  during 
that  period.  He  had  the  confidence  and  patronage  of  the 
law  booksellers  and  the  leading  lawyers  of  that  time,  hig 
store  being  the  favorite  resort  of  such  eminent  men  as 
Chancellor  Kent,  George  Wood,  Hugh  Maxwell,  Edward 
Sanford,  Daniel  Lord,  J.  Prescott  Hall,  Wm.  Curtis  Noyes, 
John  Duer,  James  W.  Gerard,  Theodore  Sedgwick,  Charles 
O’Conor,  David  Dudley  Field,  William  M.  Evarts  and 
Charles  P.  Daly,  all  of  whom  were  known  to  many  of  my 
readers,  and  of  whom  only  the  last  three  survive. 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Voorhies,  the  business  was  reor- 
ganized under  the  firm  name  of  Baker,  Voorhies  & Co.,  the 
junior  partner  being  a nephew  of  the  founder,  and  having 
been  connected  with  him  for  over  twenty  years  in  the  busi- 
ness. 

Mr.  Peter  C.  Baker,  the  senior  member  of  the  new 
firm,  began  his  career  in  the  bookselling  business,  when 
quite  a young  lad,  nearly  fifty  years  ago,  but  deciding  to 
become  a printer,  he  entered  the  employment  of  the  late 
William  E.  Dean,  with  whom  he  served  his  apprenticeship. 
Mr.  Dean  was  an  extensive  printer  and  publisher  of  legal 
and  classical  books.* 

Soon  after  Mr.  Baker  had  served  his  time  at  the  printer’s 
* See  ante , p.  148. 


656 


BAKER,  PRATT  & CO. 


trade,  he  became  the  superintendent  of  the  extensive 
printing  establishment  of  John  F.  Trow,  whose  New  York 
City  Directory  has  made  his  name  so  well  known.  Mr. 
Trow,  at  that  time,  was  the  printer  for  D.  Appleton  & 
Co/s  publications,  as  well  as  those  of  George  P.  Putnam, 
John  AViley,  and  many  other  prominent  publishing  houses. 

In  the  year  1850  Mr.  Baker,  with  the  late  Daniel  Godwin, 
commenced  business  on  their  own  account,  under  the  style 
of  Baker  & Godwin,  in  the  Tribune  Building,  where  their 
well  known  printing  establishment  was  so  familiar,  for 
many  years. 

The  firm  made  the  printing  of  law  books  a specialty, 
thus  bringing  Mr.  Baker  into  close  relations  with  Mr. 
Voorhies,  which  ultimately,  through  his  familiarity  with 
the  different  law-books  published  by  the  latter,  induced 
him  to  become  a law-book  publisher,  as  before  stated. 

Among  the  most  important  law-books,  published  by  this 
firm,  the  following  may  be  named  : Townshend  on  Slander 
and  Libel,  Shearman  and  Redfield  on  Negligence,  Bliss  on 
Life  Insurance,  Gerard  on  Titles  to  Real  Estate,  Kerr  on 
Fraud  and  Mistake,  Waterman  on  Set-off,  Ram  on  Facts 
and  the  Science  of  Legal  Judgment,  and  the  important 
works  of  the  Abbott  Brothers. 

The  relations  of  this  firm  with  the  authors  of  law  books 
have  been  of  the  most  agreeable  nature.  One  of  the  oldest 
authors  in  the  state  came  to  them  unsolicited,  to  publish  a 
new  treatise,  because  he  was  so  well  pleased  with  the  me- 
chanical' appearance  of  the  books  issued  by  that  house. 
After  the  publication  of  the  book  referred  to,  and  the  first 
account  of  sales  was  rendered,  the  author  wrote  them  as 
follows  : “ The  statement  is  highly  satisfactory.  I feel  that 
I am  greatly  indebted  to  your  spirit,  business  tact  and  ex- 
tended reputation  and  experience  as  publishers,  for  the 
rapid  sale  of  the  work.” 

BAKER,  PRATT  & CO.,  although  not  publishers,  stand 
at  the  front  of  the  largest  wholesale  venders  of  books  and 
stationery  in  this  country.  The  founders  of  the  house  bear 


BAKER,  PRATT  & CO. 


657 


an  historic  name  in  the  publishing  trade.  As  previously 
noted  in  the  sketch  of  A.  S.  Barnes,  the  firm  of  D.  F. 
Robinson  & Co.  established  themselves  in  New  York  in  1 835, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Robinson,  Pratt  & Co. 

Five  years  later,  I purchased  from  the  latter  house 
the  general  stock  for  my  country  book  store  at  Auburn, 
on  an  order  given  me  upon  that  firm  by  Henry  Ivison,  who 
had  at  that  time  started  me  in  the  bookselling  business, 
himself  becoming  a special  partner. 

In  the  year  1843,  Mr.  Robinson  retiring  from  the  busi- 
ness to  become  the  president  of  the  Hartford  Bank,  the 
firm  was  succeeded  by  Pratt,  Woodford  & Co.,  consisting 
of  Henry  Z.  Pratt,  0.  P.  Woodford,  Elijah  P.  Farmer,  and 
T.  K.  Brace,  which  in  turn  was  succeeded  by  that  of 
Farmer,  Brace  & Co.,  the  same  individuals  comprising  the 
firm  with  the  addition  of  James  S.  Oakley.  Mr.  Farmer 
was  the  best  salesman  I ever  knew.  He  sold  me  the  first 
bill  of  books  I ever  bought — happy  the  bookseller  who  es- 
caped with  purchases  double  the  amount  originally  desired. 
Mr.  Farmer’s  sudden  death  in  the  prime  of  his  busy  life 
was  sincerely  regretted  by  all  who  had  known  him.  A 
few  years’  intervened,  when  the  firm  was  again  changed  to 
Pratt,  Oakley  & Co.,  and  among  their  publications  were 
the  popular  school  books  : Cooper’s  Virgil,  Comstock’s 
Chemistry,  Physiology,  Botan}^  Mineralogy,  and  Natural 
History.  These  elementary  works  of  science,  were  the  first 
school  books  of  the  kind  published  in  this  country.  They 
were  also  the  publishers  of  the  celebrated  Bullion’s  Eng- 
lish Grammar,  and  Latin  and  Greek  series,  all  of  which 
reached  immense  sales.  In  the  year  1862,  Mr.  Birdseye 
Blakeman,  now  the  senior  partner  in  the  great  school 
book  house  of  Ivison,  Blakeman,  Taylor  & Co.,  in  connection 
with  the  late  Albert  Mason,  became  the  successors  of 
Pratt,  Oakley  & Co.,  under  the  firm  name  of  Blakeman  & 
Mason.  In  1864,  Mr.  Blakeman  retired,  when  a new  firm 
was  formed  under  the  style  of  Oakley  & Mason,  Mr.  Oak- 
ley bringing  with  him  the  good  will  of  the  old  concern, 


658 


JOHN  F.  TROW. 


with  which  he  had  been  so  long  connected.  There  were 
few,  if  any,  men  of  more  experience,  combined  with  a nat- 
ural taste  for  the  bookselling  business  than  James  S. 
Oakley.  At  the  end  of  four  years  Oakley  and  Mason 
associated  with  them  as  partners, — James  S.  Baker  and 
William  T.  Pratt  (nephew  of  Henry  Z.  Pratt  of  the  old 
firm).  Mr.  Oakley  retired  in  1872,  when  the  firm  style 
again  changed  to  Mason,  Baker  & Pratt,  and  two  years 
later,  the  firm  of  Baker,  Pratt  & Co.,  was  formed,  consist- 
ing of  the  following  members,  James  S.  Baker,  William 
T.  Pratt,  Charles  D.  Pratt  and  Robert  L.  Boyd. 

Both  Mr.  Baker  and  the  Messrs.  Pratt,  have,  by  their 
long  and  active  experience  in  every  department  of  the  book- 
selling and  stationery  business,  become  famous  for  their 
rare  faculty  in  supplying  every  book  ever  published  in  print 
or  out  of  print,  or  indeed  all  supplies  desired  by  the 
country  bookseller. 

JOHN  F.  TROW  is  undoubtedly  the  oldest  book  printer 
in  New  York  City,  if  not  in  America,  in  continuous  active 
business. 

Mr.  Trow  was  apprenticed  to  the  printing  business  sixty 
years  ago,  with  the  well-known  firm  of  Flagg  & Could, 
of  Andover,  Mass.,  whose  “ Codman  Press  ” became  cele- 
brated for  doing  the  first  work  for  the  American  Tract 
Society. 

A half-century  ago,  Mr.  Trow  removed  to  New  York 
City,  when  for  a few  years,  under  the  firm  of  West  & Trow, 
he  conducted  business  as  a printer  on  hand-presses,  print- 
ing, among  other  papers,  the  New  York  Observer. 

After  that  he  associated  himself  with  the  late  Jonathan 
Leavitt  as  bookseller  and  publisher,  under  the  name  of 
Leavitt  & Trow,  continuing  at  the  same  time  the  print- 
ing business  under  the  style  of  John  F.  Trow  & Co. 

Among  other  important  publications  issued  by  Leavitt 
and  Trow  some  of  my  readers  will  remember,  were  the  com- 
plete works  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  and  also  the  classical 
series  of  Professor  John  J.  Owen,  so  widely  popular. 


COLLINS,  KEESE  & CO. 


659 


In  the  year  1852,  Mr.  Trow  commenced  the  publication 
of  the  New  York  City  Directory,  with  which  his  name  has 
been  so  prominently  identified  for  more  than  thirty  years. 

As  early  as  1836  Mr.  Trow  had  imported  complete  fonts 
of  Oriental  type  from  the  celebrated  Tauchnitz  foundry, 
viz.  : Greek,  Hebrew,  Arabic,  Syriac,  Ethiopian,  Coptic, 
Samaritan,  &c.,  and  far  surpassing  in  quantity  and  variety 
the  famous  “ Codman  Press,”  where  he  served  his  appren- 
ticeship, or  any  other  establishment  in  America. 

His  specimen  book,  published  in  1855,  a beautiful  pro- 
duction of  typographic  art,  contains  specimens  of  these 
various  and  elegant  fonts.  In  recognition  of  the  beautiful 
and  accurate,  classical  and  Oriental  productions  that  have 
issued  from  his  press,  the  University  of  New  York  has  con- 
ferred upon  Mr.  Trow  the  title  of  University  printer. 

COLLINS,  KEESE  & COMPANY  were  well  known 
dealers  in  school  books  fifty  years  ago,  and  were  not  only 
publishers  of  some  important  school  books,  but  large 
jobbers  in  books  and  stationery. 

John  Keesc,  then  a member  of  the  firm,  was  the  wit- 
tiest man  ever  known  in  the  book  trade.  His  remarkably 
persuasive  powers  as  salesman  I had  occasion  to  remember, 
mingled  as  they  were  with  both  method  and  wit. 

About  forty  years  ago  Mr.  Keese  withdrew  from  the  con- 
cern, forming  a new  partnership  under  the  style  of  Cooley, 
Keese  & Hill,  book  auctioneers  ; the  senior  member,  the 
late  James  E.  Cooley,  had  long  experience  as  the  head  of 
the  firm  of  James  E.  Cooley  & Lemuel  Bangs,  the  trade- 
sales  auctioneers. 

The  keen  and  ready  wit  of  Mr.  Keese  would  always 
draw  a lively  crowd  of  purchasers,  when  he  was  the  auc- 
tioneer, wit  seeming  with  him.  as  second  nature. 

On  one  occasion,  during  a sale  of  an  invoice  of  books — 
“There  was  no  quarter  at  the  Battle  of  Waterloo,  my  dear 
sir,”  he  said  to  a bidder  of  twenty-five  cents  for  a narrative 
of  that  conflict.  “ Really,  this  is  too  much  pork  for  a 
shilling,”  was  his  pathetic  remark  at  the  sacrifice  of 


060 


COLLINS,  KEESE  & CO. 


“ Bacon’s  Essays  ” for  twelve  and  a half  cents.  “ Going 
— going — gentlemen — ten  cents  for  Caroline  Fry ; why,  it 
isn’t  the  price  of  a stew  !”  (a  jest  prompted,  perhaps,  by  a 
thought  of  the  supper  awaiting  him  at  Downing’s  oyster 
saloon  in  Wall  street),  and  the  same  reflection  probably 
suggested  his  interpretation  of  the  title  F.R.S.  : “ Fried, 
Roasted  and  Stewed  !”* 

“ I have  the  recollection  of  him,”  wrote  the  late  Evert 
A.  Duyekinck,  “as  the  wittiest  book-auctioneer  of  his  day 
in  New  York,  and  it  may  be  said  of  any  day,  for  there  is 
no  tradition  of  any  predecessor  of  such  powers,  and  he  cer- 
tainly left  no  successor  in  his  peculiar  vein.  This  may  be 
said  without  disparagement  to  the  intellectual  cleverness 
of  the  Sabins,  Leavitts  and  Merwins  of  the  present  day 
for  Keese  was  really  an  extraordinary  man,  in  the  humor- 
ous handling  of  books  and  an  audience,  enlivening  a sales- 
room on  the  dullest  of  wet  nights  and  under  the  most  dis- 
advantageous circumstances  with  the  brilliancy  of  his  wit. 
Few  who  attended  his  sales  did  not  carry  away  with  them 
some  recollection  of  his  sparkling  genius.” 

Mr.  Dnyckmck  wrote  the  above  in  1877.  Mr.  Joseph 
Sabin,  the  distinguished  bibliographer  and  sometime  auc- 
tioneer, died  in  1881.  Mr.  Andrew  M.  Menvin,  so  pleas- 
antly remembered  when  of  the  firm  of  Bangs,  Merwin  & 
Co.,  died  in  1871.  Mr.  F.  H.  Bangs  still  continues  the 
book  auction  business  in  this  city  under  the  firm  of  Bangs 
& Co. 

Collins  & Brother,  successors  to  the  old  firm,  have  been 
in  continuous  business  as  school  book  publishers  and 
jobbers  for  more  than  forty  years.  They  are  wrell  known 
in  the  locality  of  the  great  dry-goods  center  in  which  their 
srore  has  long  been  located.  Mr.  Charles  Collins,  my  long- 
time friend,  has  recently  succeeded  to  the  business,  and 
the  firm  style  is  now  in  that  of  his  own  name. 

* John  Keese,  Wit  and  Litterateur,  a Biographical  Memoir,  by 
William  L.  Keese. 


XLV. 


TWO  SOUTHERN  POETS. 


JAMES  R.  RANDALL. 

The  Author  of  “ My  Maryland  ” — A Reconstructed  Rebel 
— “ 1 see  Thee  ever  in  my  Dreams  ” — Massachusetts 
Troops  through  Baltimore — A Famous  Poem  in  Half 
an  Hour — One  Hundred  Dollars  in  Confederate  Money 
— He  heard  it  sung  by  a Russian  Girl — An  Incident 
at  Arlington. 

"TOURING-  a temporary  sojourn  in  Augusta,  Ga.,  in  1870- 
71,  while  representing  the  house  of  D.  Appleton  & 
Co.,  I was  conversing  one  day  with  one  of  my  friends,  a well- 
known  cotton  factor  of  that  city,  and  observing  a gentleman 
haranguing  bystanders  on  one  of  the  ample  sidewalks,  I 
said  to  my  friend  “ That  must  be  one  of  the  c carpet-bag 9 
politicians  who  have  come  from  the  North  to  reconstruct 
you  rebels.”  At  that  time  the  “ carpet-bag  government  ” 
wa§  in  full  sway,  “reconstruction”  not  yet  having  become 
an  assured  fact.  My  friend  laughed  heartily,  as  did  I,  when 
he  said,  “Why,  that  is  James  R.  Randall,  the  author  of 
4 My  Maryland/  which  did  such  good  Confederate  service ; 
he  was  a rebel,  but  he  needs  no  reconstruction.” 

I was  soon  after  introduced  to  the  poet-journalist,  and 
from  that  time  have  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  writers  of  the  South.  Although  Mr.  Randall 
has  not  published  any  volume,  he  has  written  enough  of 
both  prose  and  poetry  to  make  a very  entertaining  one. 

[661] 


662 


JAMES  E.  RANDALL. 


Who  that  has  read  the  story  of  “ Evangeline  ” can  for- 
get  the  gentle  notary  Rene  Leblanc,  and  his  score  of 
children?  From  one  of  them  was  descended  the  mother  of 
James  R.  Randall.  His  father  was  a merchant  of  Balti- 
more, and  in  that  city  he  was  born  January  1,  1839.  One 
of  his  earliest  tutors  was  Professor  Clark,  who  had  taught 
Edgar  Allan  Poe,  and  who  is  now,  or  was  recently,  living 
in  Baltimore,  aged  over  90  years.  The  years  1849-56  young 
Randall  passed  at  Georgetown  College,  where  was  written 
his  first  poem  on  Professor  Dimitry.  It  was  published  in 
the  Eve?iing  Star  of  Washington,  and  attracted  some  atten- 
tion in  the  college  as  a juvenile  production  of  small  merit. 
After  a brief  service  as  clerk  in  a Baltimore  book-store, 
young  Randall  proceeded  to  Florida  and  taught  school  for 
a while  in  the  wilderness,  and  finally  drifted  to  New  Orleans 
and  became  clerk  in  a shipping-merchant’s  office. 

In  spare  moments  he  wrote  poems  that  were  published 
in  the  New  Orleans  papers.  When  twenty  years  of  age,  he 
was  appointed  professor  of  English  and  the  classics  in 
Poydras  College,  a tolerably  well-endowed  country  college 
in  Pointe  Coupee  Parish,  La. 

He  had  not  been  at  the  college  long  before  the  war 
broke  out,  and  in  common  with  the  youth  of  the  South, 
was  intensely  agitated  on  the  subject. 

The  editor  of  the  New  Orleans  Delta,  who  encouraged 
young  Randall’s  efforts  at  poetry  by  giving  him  a volume 
of  the  poems  of  James  Clarence  Mangan,  and  the  weird 
melodies  and  wasted  life  and  melancholy  death  of  the  un- 
fortunate Irish  poet  made  an  indelible  impression  upon  his 
mind.  He  was  especially  struck  with  the  rhythm  of  one 
poem  purporting  to  be  a translation  from  the  Ottoman,  en- 
titled the  “ Karamanian  Exile.” 

“ I see  thee  ever  in  my  dreams, 

Karaman ! 

Thy  hundred  hills,  thy  thousand  streams, 

Karaman ! O Karaman  ! 


JAMES  R.  RANDALL. 


663 


9 


As  when  thy  gold-bright  morning  gleams, 

As  when  the  deepening  sunset  seams 
With  lines  of  light  thy  hills  and  streams, 

Karaman  ! 

So  thou  loomest  on  my  dreams, 

Karaman ! O Karaman  !” 

One  day,  while  the  melody  of  the  Karamanian  exile  was 
running  through  his  brain,  Mr.  Randall  rode  to  the  Missis- 
sippi river,  seven  miles  distant,  and  got  his  mail.  Among 
it,  was  a copy  of  the  Delta,  containing  an  account  of  the 
passage  of  the  Massachusetts  troops  through  Baltimore, 
and  of  the  riot  that  occurred,  which  was  read  with  the  deep- 
est interest.  Agitated  by  the  thrilling  news,  indignant  at 
what  he  considered  an  outrage  upon  his  native  city,  and 
anxious  about  the  safety  of  relatives  and  friends,  there  was 
no  sleep  for  Randall,  that  night.  He  arose,  and  again  read 
the  account  of  the  riot  in  Baltimore.  For  some  unaccounta- 
ble reason,  as  he  was  pacing  up  and  down  thinking  of  the 
events  in  Baltimore,  the  stirring  melody  of  the  Karaman- 
ian exile  seemed  to  ring  through  his  head — so  much  so  that 
he  appeared  possessed  with  its  spirit,  and  in  a moment  the 
whole  scheme  of  the  poem  “My  Maryland”  was  formed 
in  his  brain.  He  sat  down  at  his  desk,  and  in  half  an 
hour  the  poem  was  completed.  The  next  day  he  read  it 
to  his  scholars,  mo^t  of  whom  were  Creoles,  and  it  fired 
them  up  to  such  a degree  of  enthusiasm,  that  it  occurred 
to  the  author,  to  send  his  poem  to  the  Delta  for  pub- 
lication. It  appeared  in  that  paper  Sunday  morning,  when 
the  whole  country  was  at  fever  heat.  The  success  of  the 
poem  was  instantaneous  ; in  Maryland,  electrical.  It  was 
published  throughout  the  country,  and  became  the  rally- 
ing cry  of  the  Southern  people.  The  boy  professor  became 
famous  in  a day,  and  found,  with  no  little  surprise,  that 
when  he  visited  New  Orleans,  he  was  the  hero  of  the 
hour. 

The  fame  of  the  poem  soon  spread  across  the  ocean.  It 
was  published  in  Europe  and  received  with  enthusiasm. 


664 


JAMES  R.  RANDALL. 


Mr.  Randall  received  an  autograph  letter  from  a member 
of  the  family  of  Lord  Byron,  asking  for  a manuscript  copy 
of  “My  Maryland ” and  stating  their  admiration  for  the 
poem  and  inviting  him  to  visit  them  in  London. 

John  R.  Thompson,  a well  known  literary  man,  long 
connected  with  the  Southern  Literary  Messenger , was  in 
England  when  the  poem  was  first  published.  On  his  re- 
turn he  said  to  Mr.  Randall,  that  he  envied  him  beyond 
all  living  men,  because  he  had  met  in  a drawing-room  in 
London,  one  of  the  most  charming  and  beautiful  of  women 
who  had  asked  him  if  he  would  like  to  hear  a song  of  his 
Southern  country.  Upon  his  replying  in  the  affirmative, 
she  went  to  the  piano  and  struck  up  “ My  Maryland/’ 
When  she  had  finished,  she  returned  to  where  he  was  sit- 
ting and  said,  “ When  you  see  your  friend  who  wrote  that, 
tell  him  you  heard  it  sung  by  a Russian  girl,  who  lives  at 
Archangel,  north  of  Siberia,  and  learned  to  sing  it  there.” 

Mr.  Randall  was  one  among  a crowd  of  ten  thousand 
who  surrounded  the  Washington  monument  in  Baltimore, 
at  the  reception  given  to  the  French  visitors  to  the  York- 
town  Centennial,  when  Dodworth’s  band  played  “My 
Maryland.”  When  the  visitors  learned  it  was  a distinctive 
Maryland  air,  they  arose  and  bowed  profoundly,  and  the 
crowd  cheered  wildly.  Unknown  among  the  throng  was 
the  author.  Some  one  near  him  asked  if,  as  a Marylander, 
he  did  not  feel  very  proud  of  the  song.  He  said,  no  ; that 
he  had  become  very  practical  since  he  had  written  that 
song,  and  felt  satisfied  that  not  one  man  in  that  vast 
throng  would  lend  him  five  dollars  if  he  should  ask  the 
loan  of  that  sum.  The  stranger  replied,  “ When  you  are 
dead  we  will  give  you  a grand  funeral.” 

“ My  Maryland”  was  set  to  music  by  Miss  Hettie  Cary,  of 
Baltimore,  now  the  wife  of  Prof.  Martin  of  Johns  Hopkins 
University,  to  the  German  air  “ Tannebaum,”  and  a great 
deal  of  money  is  said  to  have  been  made  by  the  Baltimore 
music-seller  who  published  it  ; but  the  author  received 
none  of  it.  All  the  money  he  ever  received  for  the  poem 


JAMES  K.  RANDALL. 


665 


was  one  hundred  dollars  in  Confederate  money  from  a pub- 
lisher in  New  Orleans,  with  which  he  bought  a much-needed 
suit  of  clothes. 

Mr.  Eandall  has  written  other  poems  that  enjoyed  popu- 
larity in  the  South,  such  as  “There's  Life  in  the  Old 
Land  yet,"  “ Stonewall  Jackson,"  “ Idolon,"  “ Alexandria," 
“The  Cameo  Bracelet,"  “John  Pelham,"  “Why  the 
Robin's  Breast  is  Red."  All  these  have  had  a temporary 
newspaper  popularity,  but  never  having  been  collected  in  a 
book,  will  soon  pass  out  of  recollection.  A number  of 
manuscript  poems  were  lost  during  the  war.  Since  the  war, 
he  has  written  little,  besides  what  he  considers  his  best 
poem  “At  Arlington,”  based  upon  an  incident  of  peculiar 
poetic  interest.  On  the  day  that  the  graves  of  the  Federal 
soldiers  buried  at  Arlington  were  decorated,  a number  of 
years  ago,  a party  of  ladies  entered  the  cemetery  for  the 
purpose  of  placing  flowers  on  the  graves  of  thirty  Confed- 
erates. Their  progress  was  stopped  by  bayonets,  and  they 
were  not  allowed  to  perform  their  mission  of  love.  During 
the  night  a high  wind  arose,  and  in  the  morning  all  the 
floral  offerings  that  had  been  placed  the  day  before  upon 
the  Federal  graves,  were  found  piled  upon  the  mounds 
under  which  reposed  the  thirty  Confederates.  That  which 
men  had  denied,  nature  had  granted  ; nay,  had  taken  into 
her  own  hands  to  perform. 

Traveling  north  at  the  close  of  the  war,  on  the  train 
the  poet  borrowed  a newspaper  from  a young  lady.  The 
lady  was  Miss  Hammond,  now  the  wife  of  Mr.  Randall, 
and  the  paper,  the  Augusta  Chronicle , of  which  he  became 
and  is  now  an  editor.  One  of  his  daughters  is  named  Mary- 
land, so  that  Mrs.  Randall  said  to  her  husband,  “ Should 
the  poem  die  and  our  daughter  live  ; or  the  daughter  die 
and  the  poem  live,  in  either  case  you  will  have  “My  Mary- 
land." 

The  Washington  correspondent  of  the  Philadelphia 
Record  recently  sent  the  following  to  that  paper: 


666 


JAMES  R.  RANDALL. 


“James  R.  Randall,  who  wrote  ; Maryland,  My  Maryland,’ 
is  one  of  the  most  delightful  meu  in  Washington.  You  find  it 
difficult  to  believe  that  this  quiet,  liberal,  broad-minded  man 
WTote  that  narrow,  passionate  appeal.  He  was  very  young,  how- 
ever. He  is  young  still,  but  wiser  and  broader.  He  has  come  to 
that  point  where  he  is  willing  to  admit  that  that  disagreeable 
characterization  1 Northern  scum  ’ in  the  last  stanza  was  simply 
put  in  for  the  sake  of  the  rhyme.  He  would  not  write  such  a 
song  now.  Yet  he  copies  the  old  song  again  and  again  in  response 
to  requests  that  come  from  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  whither 
its  fame  has  spread.  I saw  a true  copy  of  it  yesterday.  It  is 
rarely  printed  correctly.  It  is  generally  mangled  in  quotation, 
and  it  is  alw7ays  mutilated  in  the  newspapers.  I hear  that  Mr. 
Randall  contemplates  gathering  it  and  half  a hundred  other  lyrics 
in  a volume  to  be  published  shortly.” 

To  which  Mr.  Randall  responds  in  the  Augusta  Chronicle  as 
follows  : 

I was  surprised  at  the  paragraph  concerning  me  in  the 
Philadelphia  Record.  The  gentleman  who  wrote  it  is  a friend  of 
mine,  and  meant  to  do  me  a kindness  ; but  some  of  his  deductions 
took  the  color  of  his  own  sentiments  and  antipathies.  I never 
meant  to  impress  him  with  the  idea  that  I was  ashamed  of  the 
song  of  ‘ Maryland,’  or  that,  under  the  same  provocation  and 
circumstances,  I would  not  write  it  again.  The  whole  thing  was 
based  upon  a statement  of  regret  that  the  exigencies  of  rhyme, 
compelled  me  to  use  a w7ord  in  the  last  stanza  of  the  lyric  that 
might  seem  to  reflect  offensively  upon  the  Northern  people,  as  a 
class.  I am  not  likely  to  cease  loving  the  State  of  my  birth  any 
more  than  the  State  of  my  adoption.  In  remembrance  of  the 
first  named  commonwealth,  I have  called  one  of  my  daughters 
Maryland.  In  the  soil  of  the  la3t  I expect  to  be  laid  at  rest,  some 
day, 

“ Where  the  grass  above  my  grave  will  grow  as  long, 

And  sigh  to  midnight  winds,  but  not  to  song!” 

Mr.  Randall  resides  in  a pleasant  home  in  Augusta, 
Ga.,  where  he  is  one  of  the  editors  of  the  “ Chronicle  and 
Constitutionalist  ” The  cares  of  a large  and  increasing 
family,  and  the  incessant  drudgery  of  newspaper  work, 
leave  him  no  time  to  cultivate  his  poetic  muse.  As  a news- 


MARY  ASHLEY  TOWNSEND. 


667 


paper  writer,  lie  has  gained  distinction,  and  his  letters 
from  Washington  during  the  session  of  Congress  have  been 
widely  quoted  by  the  press  of  the  country. 


MARY  ASHLEY  TOWNSEND. 

“ The  Most  Brilliant  Woman  in  Mew  Orleans  ” — An 
Author  meets  Her  First  Publisher — “ Xariffa  ” and 
the  “ Captain's  Story  ” — “ And  You  Should  Kiss  My 
Eyelids  ” — Poion  the  Bayou  and  other  Poems. 

T N the  year  1877,  while  on  my  way  to  New  Orleans,  I 
stopped  over  in  Augusta,  to  see  my  editorial  friend, 
James  R.  Randall,  then  editor  of  the  Augusta  Chronicle . 
Learning  my  destination  he  said  to  me,  “I  want  you  to 
know,  when  you  arrive  there,  the  mo.  t brilliant  woman  in 
New  Orleans/’  He  then  gave  me  a note  of  introduction  to 
Mrs.  Mary  Ashley  Townsend.  Upon  my  arrival  at  that 
city,  I w’as  unable  to  call  upon  her,  owing  to  my  recent 
indisposition.  Mr.  Randall’s  note  was  sent  by  a messenger. 
Her  surprise  on  reading  it  was  only  equaled  by  mine,  on 
receiving  the  following  from  her  : 

“ 125  Oarondelet  Street,  New  Orleans. 

Mr.  Derby: 

Dear  Sir  : — Upon  my  return  home  yesterday  evening, 
your  card  and  Mr.  Randall’s  letter  were  handed  me  by  my 
daughter  Cora.  I cannot  express  to  you  the  surprise,  the 
pleasure,  the  flood  of  memories  which  stirred  my  heart  at 
sight  of  your  once  familiar  signature.  I do  not  flatter  my- 
self that  Mr.  Derby  retains  the  slightest  recollection  of 
•me  ; but  if,  as  I suppose  from  the  similarity  of  name,  he 
was  the  head  of  the  firm  of  Derby  & Jackson,  of  New  York 
city,  a most  pleasant  remembrance  of  him — which  has 


668 


MARY  ASHLEY  TOWNSEND. 


never  died  out — is  connected  with  my  youth,  my  earliest 
ambitions — my  first  book  ! It  is  with  sincere  regret  I 
learn  your  ill  health  will  deprive  me  of  the  pleasure  of 
welcoming  you  to  my  house  this  evening  ; but  may  I not 
be  allowed  to  call  upon  you  with  Mr.  Townsend  ? 

“ If  it  will  be  convenient  for  you  to  have  us  do  so  this 
evening,  will  you  have  the  kindness  to  send  word  by  bearer 
at  what  hour  ? 

“Very  sincerely, 

Mary  Ashley  Townsend.” 

I found  on  meeting  Mrs.  Townsend  that  I had  pub- 
lished for  her  more  than  twenty  years  previons,  a novel  en- 
titled “The  Brother  Clerks,  a Tale  of  New  Orleans/’  by 
Mary  Ashley,  which  was  the  only  name  that  I had  known 
her  by. 

It  was  very  pleasant  indeed  to  meet  the  author  of  that 
book  face  to  face,  in  her  own  delightful  home  in  the  Cres- 
ent  City.  While  there  I learned  for  the  first  time  that 
Mrs.  Townsend  was  also  a poetess  of  considerable  merit, 
her  volume  of  poems  by  “ Xariffa”  (her  nom  de  plume) 
having  passed  through  several  editions,  from  the  press  of 
J.  B.  Lippincott  & Co.  She  was  the  author  also  of  a poet- 
ical romance  entitled  “ The  Captain’s  Story,”  the  merit  of 
which  is  testified  to  by  autograph  letters  from  Henry  W. 
Longfellow,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  and  William  Cullen 
Bryant. 

Of  her  poem  “ Creed,”  of  which  the  following  is  an  ex- 
tract, John  G.  Saxe,  in  a letter  to  her,  said,  “I  consider 
it  one  of  the  finest  poems  in  the  English  language.” 

“ I believe  if  I should  die, 

And  you  should  kiss  my  eyelids  when  I lie 

Cold,  dead  and  dumb  to  all  the  world  contains, 

The  folded  orbs  would  open  at  your  breath, 

And  from  its  exile  in  the  isles  of  death 

Life  would  come  gladly  back  along  my  veins! 


MARY  ASHLEY  TOWNSEND. 


669 


“ I believe  if  I were  dead, 

And  you  upon  my  lifeless  heart  should  tread, 

Not  knowing  what  the  poor  clod  chanced  to  be, 

It  would  find  sudden  pulse  beneath  the  touch 
Of  him  it  ever  loved  in  life  so  much, 

And  throb,  again,  warm,  tender,  true  to  thee. 

“ I believe  if  on  my  grave, 

Plidden  in  woody  deeps  or  by  the  wave, 

Your  eyes  should  drop  some  warm  tears  of  regret, 
From  every  salty  seed  of  your  dear  grief, 

Some  fair,  sweet  blossom  would  leap  into  leaf, 

To  prove  death  could  not  make  my  love  forget. 

“ I believe  if  I should  fade 
Into  those  mystic  realms  where  light  is  made, 

And  you  should  long  once  more  my  face  to  see, 

I would  come  forth  upon  the  hills  of  night 
And  gather  stars  like  fagots,  till  thy  sight, 

Led  by  their  beacon  blaze,  fell  full  on  me!” 

A new  volume  by  Mrs.  Townsend  has  just  been  pub- 
lished by  James  R.  Osgood  & Co.,  under  the  title  “Down 
the  Bayou  and  other  Poems,”  of  which  that  excellent 
authority,  the  Critic , in  a recent  notice,  says  : 

“ The  writer  has,  among  other  merits,  one  precious  quality,  viz., 
a quick  preception  of  natural  beauties,  and  of  their  relation  to  the 
world  of  thought.  To  this  she  adds  the  grace  of  being  able  to 
show  you  wiiat  she  herself  sees,  and  that  with  a delicate  and  skill- 
ful tact.  She  comprehends  the  significance  of  the  fair  sights  and 
sounds  which  the  summer  day  unfolds  to  her.  Flowers,  insects, 
winds  and  waters  awake  in  her  no  flat  and  simulated  raptures, 
but  a reverent  heeding  of  their  sweet  meaning.  She  wins  us  to 
her  mood,  in  whic  h she  says, 


“ All  life  seemed 
Like  the  white  fervor  of  a star 
That  burns  in  twilight  skies  afar, 
Between  the  azure  of  the  day 
And  gates  that  shut  the  night  away.” 


XLYI. 


LITTLE,  BROWN  & CO. 

Oldest  book  house  in  Boston — Augustus  Flagg  becomes  a 
Partner — Death  of  James  Brown — “ The  Business  he 
loved  so  well” — Hillard’s  Memoir  of  Brown — Mr. 
Flagg  assumes  Control — Active  Career  for  quarter  of  a 
Century — Anecdote  of  Charles  Sampson — Important 
Publications  of  the  house — Russell  of  Charleston , and 
Berry  of  Nashville — Anecdotes  of  Story  and  Kent — 
“ And  then  look  out  for  thunder  !” — Choate  not  to  be 
dunned  for  3,000  years — Augustus  Flagg  retires  from 
Business. 

^TMXE  oldest  firm  of  book  publishers  and  booksellers  in  the 
JL  city  of  Boston,  and  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  sub- 
stantial in  this  country,  is  the  house  of  Little,  Brown  & Co. ; 
their  reputation,  as  great  law-book  publishers,  and  also 
that  of  being  at  one  time  the  largest  importers  of  the  best 
editions  of  English  books,  is  well  known  in  this  country 
and  in  Europe. 

The  firm  was  founded  in  the  year  1837,  under  the  style 
of  Charles  C.  Little  & James  Brown.  Mr.  Augustus 
Flagg  became  a partner  in  the  concern  in  the  year  1840, 
since  which  time  the  style  has  been  Little,  Brown  & Co. 

Mr.  James  Brown  died  in  the  year  1855,  greatly  la- 
mented. His  unexpected  death  was  a great  shock,  not  only 
to  his  intimate  friends,  but  to  the  bookselling  fraternity, 
generally.  Those  of  my  readers  who  knew  him  personally, 
will  bear  testimony  to  his  fine  presence  and  affable  man- 
ners, and  agree  with  me  that  the  eminence  he  attained  in 
the  business  he  loved  so  well  and  which  he  adorned,  easily 
[670] 


LITTLE,  BROWN  & CO. 


671 


placed  him  the  acknowledged  head,  the  most  able  repre- 
sentative of  the  book-publishing  fraternity  in  this  country. 

In  George  S.  Hillard's  memoirs  of  James  Brown,  pri- 
vately printed,  appear  some  descriptive  letters  from  Europe, 
in  1841.  The  following  will  interest  my  readers,  picturing, 
as  it  does,  the  London  book  world  forty  years  ago  : 

“The  London  Coffee  House,  Ludgate  Hill,  besides 
being  one  of  the  best  houses  in  London,  is  the  place 
where  Franklin  lived,  and  I sat  in  the  very  stall  where  he 
and  Straham  used  to  dine,  and  hold  their  political  discus- 
sions. I called  several  times  at  Dr.  Johnson’s  old  home 
in  Bolt  Court,  and  drank  a glass  of  ale  to  his  memory. 
In  the  same  dingy,  dirty  lane,  is  the  printing-office 
where  Franklin  worked  journey-work,  if  you  know  what 
that  means.  The  building  is  occupied  for  the  same 
purpose  now.  I looked  into  Will's  and  Button’s  also, 
and  did  not  forget  the  Boar's  Head,  now  the  Saracen's, 
made  classic  by  Dickens  as  the  haunt  of  the  hero  of  Dothe- 
boys  Hall.  Paternoster  Kow  I was  greatly  disappointed 
in.  Instead  of  a fine  street  full  of  splendid  bookseller’s 
shops,  it  is  a narrow  lane  barely  admitting  a carriage  : 
dirty,  dark,  gloomy  and  disgusting. 

“ It  is  for  the  most  part  filled  with  booksellers;  but 
what  gives  a character  to  the  whole  lane  is  a large  tallow- 
chandler's  establishment,  and  the  beef  market.  In  this 
mean  street,  however,  as  you  know,  are  sold  more  fine 
books  than  in  any  other  in  the  world.  Here,  too,  book- 
sellers with  their  families  live,  and  here,  as  elsewhere  in 
London,  you  meet  the  bookseller's  wife  assisting  in  the 
labors  of  the  shop  and  busy  with  the  pen,  or  assorting  par- 
cels for  distant  customers,  and  in  discussing  the  compara- 
tive value  of  the  different  editions  of  Boyle  and  Dumas  ; 
and  if  you  call  to  dine  with  her,  you  will  find  her  at  home, 
also,  in  all  matters  which  with  us  are  thought  to  be  a 
woman's  exclusive  province — the  management  of  house- 
hold affairs." 

Augustus  Flagg,  when  quite  young,  entered  the  book- 


672 


LITTLE,  BROWN  & CO. 


store  of  Clarendon  Harris,  a well  known  bookseller  in  Wor- 
cester, Mass.  About  the  time  he  became  of  age,  feeling 
ambitious  to  find  a larger  field  of  action,  he  went  to 
Boston  with  letters  from  Mr.  Harris  to  the  principal 
booksellers  in  that  city — among  others,  to  Little  & Brown, 
who  told  him  that  at  that  time  they  were  not  in  need  of 
additional  clerical  assistance,  but,  taking  his  address,  said 
they  would  inform  him  should  a vacancy  occur.  Young 
Flagg  then  went  to  New  York,  where  he  tried  in  vain  to 
secure  a situation,  and  became  so  home-sick,  that  he  would 
have  given  anything  to  have  been  back  on  his  father's  farm. 
Finally,  he  secured  a place  with  Robinson  & Franklin, 
then  a well  known  book  firm  in  New  York,  and  where  at 
the  same  time  George  A.  Leavitt  became  a fellow  clerk. 
He  had  been  there  but  a fortnight,  when  Mr.  James 
Brown  wrote  that  they  wanted  him  to  come  on  to  Boston 
immediately,  they  having  a situation  for  him.  This  was 
in  the  fall  .of  1838,  and  Mr.  Flagg,  soon  responding,  has 
been  identified  with  that  firm  ever  since. 

C.  C.  Little  died  in  1869,  when  Mr.  Flagg  became  the 
managing  partner  of  the  concern. 

Among  the  standard  important  law  publications  of 
Little,  Brown  & Co.,  are  “ Story  on  the  Constitution," 
“ Kent's  Commentaries,"  and  “Wheaton’s  Law  of  Na- 
tions." In  their  catalogue  of  general  literature  are  the 
“Life  and  Works  of  John  Adams,"  “ The  Works  of 
Edward  Everett,"  “Rufus  Choate"  and  “ Francis  Park- 
man's  Historical  Works."  Mr.  John  Bartlett,  one  of  the 
members  of  the  firm,  is  also  the  author  of  a volume  of 
Familiar  Quotations,  a valuable  and  popular  work. 

Little  Brown  & Co.  were  the  publishers  of  George  Ban- 
croft's “History  of  the  United  States  " in  ten  volumes. 
They  were  also  the  first  publishers  of  Prescott's  “ Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella,"  which  they  ceased  to  publish  when 
the  Harpers  offered  a larger  copyright  and  became  Mr. 
Prescott's  publishers.  Subsequently  Phillips,  Sampson  & 
Co.  offered  a still  larger  copyright  and  became  the  pub- 


LITTLE,  BEOWN  & CO. 


673 


lishers  of  Prescott’s  Works.  Deferring  to  this  change  Mr. 
Flagg  recently  said  : 

“ Mr.  Sampson  came  to  see  me  one  day,  and  we 
talked  about  book  publishing.  I told  him,  among  other 
things,  there  is  a great  difference  in  publishers:  some  are 
inclined  to  pay,  what  I call,  4 Money  for  glory.’  4 Yes,’  said 
Sampson,  I know  that  ; I have  paid  twenty  thousand  dol- 
lars, more  or  less,  for  glory.  There  is  no  money  in  it.’ 
4 That  won’t  do,’  said  I.  4 When  Prescott’s  folks  came  in 
and  wanted  me  to  take  his  histories,  I told  them  I would 
advance  a thousand  dollars  a volume  copyright,  but  I 
could  not  afford  to  pay  any  glory  money,  as  I thought  I 
had  made  sufficient  reputation,  and  I preferred  to  have 
less  glory  than  to  have  my  notes  go  to  protest.  The 
troubles  of  1857  had  taught  me  a lesson.  At  that  time  most 
every  prominent  house  was  obliged  to  take  up  both  sides 
of  the  bill-book.  I made  up  my  mind  if  I ever  got  through 
that  year,  I would  so  shape  the  concern  as  to  get  along 
without  giving  notes,  and  from  that  time  we  have  never 
asked  a cent  of  discount  or  borrowed  any  money.  The 
best  investment  a man  can  make  is  to  pay  his  debts,  and 
after  that  he  can  make  any  investment  he  likes.” 

Little,  Brown  & Co.  were  also  the  publishers  of  Daniel 
Webster’s  Works,  which  were  sold  originally  by  subscrip- 
tion, the  copyright  of  which  on  the  first  edition  amounted 
to  about  forty  thousand  dollars.  Mr.  Flagg  says  the  royalty 
upon  the  sales  has  been  a source  of  revenue  to  the  family 
ever  since  they  were  published.  He  thinks  that  Webster’s 
Works  are  about  the  only  published  volumes  of  speeches 
that  have  been  a financial  success  ; in  which  opinion,  from 
some  of  my  own  experience,  I fully  concur.  As  before 
stated.  Little  Brown  & Co.  are  large  dealers  in  standard 
English  books.  They  were  the  first  importers  of  the  great 
Encyclopedia  Britannica,  the  retail  price  of  which  was  nine 
dollars  per  volume,  they  having  at  the  time  the  exclusive 
sale  in  this  country,  and  of  which  they  sold  large  quanti- 


674 


LITTLE,  BROWN  & CO. 


ties.  The  publishers,  A.  & E.  Black,  were  astonished  at 
the  great  success  of  the  work  in  America. 

That  Little,  Brown  & Co.  created  the  market  for  the 
best  editions  of  English  literature,  there  can  be  no  doubt ; 
they  have  always  maintained  that  the  taste  of  the  public 
would  be  improved  and  cultivated  by  introducing  good 
books.  They  saw  clearly,  very  clearly,  that  if  good  English 
editions  could  be  offered  to  the  American  public  at  moder- 
ate prices — for  it  must  be  remembered  that  at  that  time  we 
were  hardly  emancipated  from  the  paper  reprint,  and  the 
yellow-covered  literature — a great  many  more  could  be  sold 
— books  of  sterling  merit,  and  constant  reference,  and  if 
they  could  induce  the  English  publishers  to  sell  them  five 
hundred  copies  of  a work  at  a little  over  cost  of  paper  and 
printing,  there  was  a market  here  for  their  disposal.  This 
was  Mr.  Brown’s  discovery ; this  was  his  mission,  and  he 
put  it  into  practice  by  the  purchase  of  editions  of  such 
works  as  Pickering’s  Milton,  Dyce’s  Beaumont  and 
Eletcher,  and  the  five  editions  of  Gibbon’s  Rome,  and 
Grftte’s  Greece,  and  other  standard  works,  which  from 
time  to  time  were  added  to  their  list,  and  offered  to 
the  American  public  at  a good  deal  less  than  they  were  sold 
for  in  England.  Mr.  Elagg  further  says,  in  ante-bellum 
times,  that  John  Russell,  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
and  W.  T.  Berry,  of  Nashville,  Tennessee,  sold  more  fine 
books  in  proportion  to  the  population  than  any  other 
cities  in  the  United  States.  He  also  claims,  that  there  are 
more  good  libraries  in  Boston  and  vicinity  than  any  other 
locality  in  this  country.  He  recently  told  me  that  Chief 
Justice  Story  was  a frequent  caller  at  their  book-store.  He 
would  come  in  and  lay  out  large  supplies  of  old  books, 
principally  works  on  civil  law,  volume  after  volume,  in  all 
languages.  He  was  always  full  of  humor,  and  was  so  much 
of  a talker  that  it  was  hard  for  anyone  to  get  in  a word.  One 
time  Chancellor  Kent  came  into  the  store  while  William  C. 
Rives,  of  Virginia,  with  some  other  eminent  gentlemen 
were  conversing  together.  Story  and  Kent  had  not  met 


LITTLE,  BROWN  & CO. 


675 


for  a long  time.  Kent  was  also  a tremendous  talker,  and 
it  was  amusing  to  watch  the  race  of  words  between  them. 
When  Story  would  get  the  floor  he  would  stick  to  it  as  long 
as  possible,  then  Kent  would  get  ahead,  struggling  with 
equal  vigor  to  hold  on.  They  seemed  so  delighted  to 
see  one  another,  when  they  met,  it  was  difflcult  for  either 
one  to  find  an  opportunity  to  speak. 

Daniel  Webster  was  a large  buyer  of  costly  English 
books.  His  manners  were  generally  very  quiet,  but  some- 
times he  would  get  warmed  up,  and  then  look  out  for 
thunder  ! He  used  to  be  annoyed  by  people  watching, 
and  following  him  wherever  he  went.  George  Bancroft 
was  also  a large  book-buyer,  buying  everything  he  could 
find  pertaining  to  American  history  in  every  language. 

Rufus  Choate  came  into  the  store  very  frequently,  and 
he  seldom  resisted  the  temptation  of  purchasing  fine  books, 
particularly  classical  works.  One  time  he  saw  a number 
of  books  he  wanted  for  his  library,  and  he  didnT  feel  as 
though  he  could  afford  to  buy  them.  Finally  he  could 
stand  it  no  longer  and  said,  “ I want  those  books,  and  I 
will  take  them  under  one  condition  : that  I shall  not  be 
dunned  for  them  under  three  thousand  years.”  He  was 
always  as  simple  as  a child.  He  would  ask  about  books  in 
a most  charming  manner,  though  he  knew  a great  deal 
more  about  them  than  booksellers  did. 

Mr.  Flagg,  who  has  frequently  visited  Europe,  where 
he  is  well  known,  to  purchase  large  invoices  of  the  best 
editions  of  books,  recently  went  abroad  to  try  the  experi- 
ment of  buying  the  most  expensive  books,  and  see  how  they 
would  sell.  The  undertaking  proved  a great  success. 

In  the  year  1880,  Mr.  Flagg  began  to  feel  the  effect  of 
over-work,  and  thought  he  would  make  way  for  the 
younger  men  ; he  therefore  withdrew  from  active  business, 
with  an  ample  fortune,  the  fruits  of  his  well -spent  life. 

The  present  members  of  the  firm  are  John  Bartlett, 
Thomas  M.  Deland,  John  M.  Brown  and  George  Flagg. 
The  style  of  the  house,  however,  remains  the  same. 


XLVII. 


BIGELOW— GODWIN— CURTIS. 


JOHN  BIGELOW. 

The  Pathfinder  to  the  Rocky  Mountains — Charles  A.  Dana 
Protests — Bigelow  has  his  Way — Both  friends  of 
Tilden — United  States  Minister  to  France — Extraor- 
dinary Discovery  of  Franklin’s  MSS. — Bigelow  Edits 
Franklin’s  Autobiography — Friendly  Advice  to  the 
Author. 

XYTHEN  the  Republican  party  was  organized,  in  the  year 
1856,  General  John  C.  Fremont  became  its  leader 
and  first  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  A great  interest 
was  manifested  by  intelligent  voters  to  learn  something 
more  than  was  commonly  known  about  the  life  and  public 
services  of  the  nominee  of  this  new  party. 

I accordingly  called  upon  Mr.  John  Bigelow,  then  the 
managing  editor  of  the  New  York  Evening  Post , a gentle- 
man of  great  ability  and  fine  literary  culture,  and  well 
equipped,  as  I knew,  for  such  an  undertaking,  and  proposed 
to  him  to  prepare,  with  all  possible  dispatch,  a campaign 
biography,  which,  after  some  hesitancy,  he  finally  agreed 
to  undertake,  and  soon  after  delivered  to  me  the  manu- 
script of  a work  entitled,  “ Memoir  of  the  Life  and  Public 
Services  of  John  Charles  Fremont,  including  an  account  of 
his  explorations,  discoveries  and  adventures  on  five  succes- 
sive expeditions  across  the  North  American  Continent,  vol- 
uminous selections  from  his  private  and  public  correspond- 
ence, his  defense  before  the  court-martial,  and  full  reports 

[676] ' 


JOHN  BIGELOW. 


677 


of  his  principal  speeches  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States.”  The  biography  was  heralded  by  the  publisher  as 
“ The  Pathfinder  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  White 
House.”  The  general  found  the  path  to  one  if  not  the  other. 

The  book  contained  a number  of  spirited  illustrations 
by  Dallas,  then  a well  known  artist.  Its  publication  was 
opportune  and  tens  of  thousands  were  sold. 

The  author  introduced  the  volume  by  saying  : 

‘‘The  engrossing  and  universal  interest  recently  awakened  in 
the  subject  of  this  memoir,  by  the  presentation  of  his  name  as  a 
candidate  for  the  Presidency,  is  the  Author’s  apology  for  the  faults 
of  hasty  preparation,  which  appear  in  the  following  pages.  He 
felt,  however,  that  the  public  were  more  concerned  with  the  matter 
than  with  the  manner  of  his  work,  and  would  pardon  almost  any- 
thing in  its  execution  more  readily  than  delay.  Under  this  im- 
pression he  has  aimed  at  but  two  results — fullness  and  accuracy. 
He  has  endeavored  to  lay  before  the  reader  every  event  in  the  life 
of  Col.  Fremont,  and  the  substance  of  every  letter,  report,  or 
speech  of  a public  character  that  he  has  written  or  made,  having  a 
tendency  to  enlighten  the  country  in  regard  to  his  qualifications 
for  the  highest  honors  of  the  Republic.  The  author  is  not  con- 
scious of  having  suppressed  anything  that  ought  to  have  been  re- 
vealed, or  of  having  stated  a single  fact  which  he  did  not  believe 
susceptible  of  proof.  To  escape  the  suspicions,  however,  to  which  a 
biography  of  a presidential  candidate  is  necessarily  exposed,  he 
has  uniformly  given  official  documents  and  contemporary  evi- 
dence of  the  events  he  records  whenever  it  was  practicable,  that 
his  readers  may  have  as  little  trouble  as  possible  in  adjusting  the 
measure  of  allowance  to  be  made  for  the  partialities  of  political  or 
personal  friendship.  A glance  at  the  following  pages  will  satisfy 
the  most  cursory  observer  that  it  is  no  mere  eulogy,  but  a faithful 
record  of  the  life  of  Colonel  Fremont,  prepared,  if  not  with  skill 
and  elegance,  at  least  with  diligence,  and  a conscientious  regard 
for  truth.” 

By  a previous  arrangement  with  General  Fremont’s 
confidential  political  advisers,  Mr.  Charles  A.  Dana,  then 
the  managing  editor  of  the  New  York  Tribune, — recently 
the  organ  of  the  Whig  party — (as  the  New  York  Eveninq 


678 


JOHN  BIGELOW. 


Post  had  been  of  the  Democratic  party),  read  the  proof- 
sheets  of  Mr.  Bigelow’s  biography  of  General  Fremont  as 
they  came  from  the  printer’s  hands. 

One  day,  during  the  progress  of  the  work,  I received  a 
telegram  from  Mr.  Dana  to  stop  the  press  until  he  could 
meet  Mr.  Bigelow,  which  he  did  the  same  day  at  my  store  on 
Nassau  Street,  when  he  told  him  that  it  never  would  do  to 
publish  an  account  of  Fremont’s  duel,  as  it  would  turn  the 
Quaker  element  of  voters  against  him.  Mr.  Bigelow  said 
in  reply,  that  the  omission  of  that  incident  in  Fremont’s 
life  would  be  a more  serious  objection  than  its  admission, 
for  the  charge  would  be  made  of  suppressing  an  import- 
ant event  in  his  history.  Mr.  Dana  was  very  decided  in  his 
opinions  and  plainly  told  Mr.  Bigelow  that  if  he  published 
such  an  item  in  the  authorized  biography  of  the  Republican 
nominee,  it  wmuld  defeat  his  election  ; that  he  wTould  take  no 
part  in  it,  but  would  take  *a  steamer  to  Europe. 

Mr,  Bigelow  had  his  way.  Mr.  Dana  did  not  sail  for 
Europe,  and  General  Fremont  "was  defeated,  but  for  other 
reasons,  probably,  than  that  of  his  fighting  a duel.  Curious- 
ly enough,  these  two  eminent  publicists  twenty  years  later 
were  acting  again  together,  this  time  harmoniously  in  the 
Democratic  party,  in  the  interest  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden, 
and  in  direct  opposition  to  the  Republican  party,  of  which 
they  were  two  of  the  founders.  Both  of  them  were  the 
confidential  friends  of  Mr.  Tilden,  and  each  of  them  be- 
lieved, with  many  others,  that  that  eminent  statesman  was 
elected  President  of  the  United  States  in  1876. 

Mr.  Bigelow  first  became  an  author  in  1852,  when  he 
published  a volume  called  “Jamaica  in  1850  ;* or,  the 
Effects  of  Sixteen  Years  of  Freedom  in  a Slave  Colony.” 
The  book  gave  an  interesting  account  of  the  author’s 
experience  during  a tour  of  that  island.  Soon  after  the 
inauguration  of  Abraham  Lincoln  as  President  of  the 
United  States,  Mr.  Bigelow  was  appointed  United  States 
consul  at  Paris,  which  office  he  filled  with  marked  ability 


JOHN  BIGELOW. 


679 


until  the  death  of  Minister  Dayton,  in  1864,  when  he  be- 
came United  States  minister  plenipotentiary. 

‘‘During  his  consulship,  Mr.  Bigelow  rendered  an  im- 
portant service  in  making  known  to  the  Parisians  the  ex- 
tensive resources  of  the  United  States,  by  the  preparation 
of  a valuable  work  of  statistics,  which  was  published  in  the 
French  language.  It  bore  the  title  : ‘ Les  JEtats  Unis 
d'Amerique  en  1S63  : Leur  Histoire  Politique;  Leurs 
Pessources  Agricoles , Industrielles  et  Commerciales.:>  The 
information  set  forth  in  this  work  was  well  calculated  to 
serve  the  Government  at  home  at  the  critical  period  of  the 
war,  by  exhibiting  the  means  possessed  by  the  country  for 
prosecuting  to  a successful  issue  the  contest  into  which  it 
had  been  plunged  by  the  rebellious  states.”* 

Mr.  Bigelow’s  eminent  services  while  minister  to  France 
are  well  known  to  the  public.  He  resigned  that  position 
in  1867,  not,  however,  without  making  his  countrymen 
richer  by  securing  the  original  manuscript  of  Franklin’s 
Autobiography,  which  was  published  the  following  year 
by  J.  B.  Lippincott  & Co.,  under  the  title,  “ The  Life  of 
Benjamin  Franklin,  written  by  himself  : How  first  pub- 
lished from  original  manuscripts,  and  from  his  printed 
correspondence  and  other  writings.”  The  singular  and 
extraordinary  discovery  of  this  most  valuable  of  manu- 
scripts is  thus  stated  by  Mr.  Bigelow  in  his  introduction  : 

“It  is  well  known  that  Franklin  prepared  so  much  of  the  cel- 
ebrated Memoirs  of  his  life  as  was  originally  intended  for  publica- 
tion, mainly  at  the  solicitation  of  one  of  his  most  cherished  friends 
in  France,  M.  le  Veillard,  then  mayor  of  Passy.  Toward  the 
close  of  the  year  1789  he  presented  to  this  gentleman  a copy  of  all 
this  sketch,  that  was  then  finished.  At  the  doctor’s  death,  his 
papers,  including  the  original  of  the  MS.,  passed  into  the  hands  of 
one  of  his  grandsons,  William  Temple  Franklin,  vrho  undertook 
to  prepare  an  edition  of  the  life  and  writings  of  his  grandfather 
for  a publishing  house  in  London.  For  the  greater  convenience 


* Duyckinck’s  Cyclopedia,  Vol.  2,  pp.  8,  11. 


680 


JOHN  BIGELOW. 


of  the  printer  in  the  preparation  of  this  edition — so  goes  the  tra- 
dition in  the  le  Yeillard  family — William  Temple  Franklin  ex- 
changed the  original  autograph  with  Mrs.  le  Yeillard, then  a widow, 
for  her  copy  of  the  Memoirs,  and  thus  the  autograph  passed 
out  of  the  Franklin  family.  At  the  death  of  the  widow  le  Veil- 
lard,  this  MS.  passed  to  her  daughter,  and  at  her  death,  in  1834, 
it  became  the  property  of  her  cousin,  M.  de  SSnarmont,  whose 
grandson,  M.  P.  de  Senarmont,  transferred  it  to  me  on  the  26th 
of  January,  1867,  with  several  other  memorials  of  Franklin,  which 
had  descended  to  him  with  the  MS.  Among  the  latter  were  the 
famous  pastel  portrait  of  Franklin  by  Duplessis,  which  he  pre- 
sented to  M.  le  Veillard;  a number  of  letters  to  M.  le  Yeillard 
from  Dr.  Franklin  and  from  his  grandsons,  William  Temple 
Franklin  and  Benjamin  Franklin  Bache,  together  with  a minute 
outline  of  the  topics  of  his  Memoirs,  brought  down  to  the  termi- 
nation of  his  mission  to  France. 

“ I availed  myself  of  my  earliest  leisure  to  subject  the  Memoirs 
to  a careful  collation  with  the  edition  -which  had  appeared  in  Lon- 
don in  1817,  and  which  was  the  first  and  only  edition  that  ever 
purported  to  have  been  printed  from  the  MS.  The  results  of  this 
collation  revealed  the  curious  fact  that  more  than  twelve  hundred 
separate  and  distinct  changes  had  been  made  in  the  text,  and 
what  is  more  remarkable,  that  the  first  eight  pages  of  the  MS., 
which  are  second  in  value  to  no  other  eight  pages  of  the  work, 
were  omitted  entirely.” 

That  Mr.  Bigelow  is  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit 
of  Benjamin  Franklin  is  pleasantly  illustrated  in  his 
friendly  counsels  to  “ a comparatively  young  man  ” in  the 
following  letter  : 

“ The  Squirrels,  Oct.  4,  1883. 

“My  Dear  Mr.  Derby  : 

“ I have  examined  your  c record , * and  for  a compara- 
tively young  man  as  you  still  are,  find  it  very  satisfactory. 
You  must  remember,  however,  that  blood  horses  always 
do  their  best  running  on  the  home  stretch.  Dr.  Frank- 
lin’s reputation  was  provincial  until  after  he  had  passed 


* See  A.  D.  F.  Randolph,  ante,  pp.  653. 


PARKE  GODWIN. 


681 


your  age.  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  and  J.  J.  Astor  were  com- 
paratively poor  men  at  sixty-five.  What  you  have  already 
done  teaches  us  to  expect  great  things  of  you  in  the  next 
fifteen  years.  As  you  grow  older,  too,  you  will  care  less 
for  other  people’s  opinion  and  more  for  your  own,  an  ele- 
ment of  strength,  which  has  been  known  to  give  birth  to 
magnificent  futures,  and  the  want  of  it  to  as  magnificent 
failures.  When  you  are  eighty  and  begin  to  think  of  re- 
tiring from  business,  I hope  it  will  be  in  my  power  to  offer 
you  my  congratulations,  as  it  is  to-day  my  privilege  to 
invoke  upon  you  and  yours  Cod’s  choicest  blessings. 

“ Yours  very  sincerely, 

“ John  Bigelow.” 


PARKE  GODWIN. 

Interesting  History  of  France — George  Ripley’s  Literary 
Tribute — “ Out  of  the  Past” — Fine  Sonnet  to  James 
T.  Fields. 

TF  Mr.  Parke  Godwin  would  gratify  his  friends  by  com- 
pleting  his  History  of  France,  the  first  volume  of  which 
was  given  us  a quarter  of  a century  since,  he  would  not 
only  fulfill  the  promises,  often  to  my  knowledge  made  to 
himself,  but  would  also  confer  a boon  to  the  readers  of  the 
first  volume  of  that  work,  which  was  given  to  the  public 
through  the  press  of  Harper  & Brothers  a long  time  ago. 

The  late  George  Ripley,  in  a lengthy  review  of  this  im- 
portant work  in  the  Tribune  in  1860,  said  : 

“Godwin’s  History  of  France  is  remarkable  alike  for  its  afflu- 
ent and  appropriate  erudition,  for  its  comprehensive  grasp  of  the 
principles  of  society,  for  its  keen  and  subtle  analysis  of  character, 
for  its  penetration  into  the  true  spirit  of  the  Middle  Ages,  for  its 
elevated  tone  of  religious  and  humanitary  sentiment,  and  for  its 


082 


PARKE  GODWIN. 


muscular  strength  of  expression.  It  may  justly  claim  an  honorable 
place  among  the  great  historical  works  which  have  so  proudly 
signalized  the  present  epoch  and  our  own  country.” 

Mr.  Godwin  has  also  favored  the  public  with  a yolume 
of  thoughtful  and  suggestive,  critical  and  literary  essays 
which  he  calls  “ Out  of  the  Past,”  and  which  were  originally 
contributions  to  the  Democratic  Review  and  Putnam’s 
Monthly . He  is  also  the  author  of  a valuable  “ Hand- 
Book  of  Universal  Biography,”  and  several  translations 
from  the  German.  His  latest  work  is  the  interesting 
Memoir  of  his  father-in-law,  William  Cullen  Bryant,  lately 
published  by  D.  Appleton  & Co. 

Mr.  Godwin  makes  no  claim  to  be  a poet,  but  the  fol- 
lowing beautiful  sonnet  in  memory  of  his  friend,  the  late 
James  T.  Fields,  would  be  creditable  to  the  best  of  son- 
neteers : 


“ I cannot  wish  thee  comfort  in  this  hour 
Of  life’s  supremest  sorrow  ; for  I know, 

By  aching  memories,  how  little  power 
The  best  words  have  to  mitigate  a woe 
With  which,  in  its  own  bitterness  alone, 

The  heart,  amid  the  silences,  must  deal. 

But  here,  where  ocean  makes  eternal  moan 
Along  its  melancholy  shores,  1 feel 
How  mightier  than  nature’s  loudest  voice 
Is  that  soft  word,  which  to  the  ruler  said, 
Amidst  his  desolated  home,  ‘ Rejoice  ! 

Thy  dear  one  sleepeth  : think  not  he  is  dead  : 
All  death  is  birth  from  out  a turbid  night, 

Into  the  glories  of  transcendent  light.’” 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS. 


683 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS. 

The  Howadji  calls  on  Harper  & Brothers — Stop,  Young 
Man,  don't  be  in  such  a Hurry — Lotus-Eating  and 
Kensett — The  humorous  Potiphar  Papers — The  Lovely 
Young  Maiden  “ Prue  " — Editor-in-  Chief  of  Har- 
per's Weekly — Author , Journalist , Statesman  and 
Orator. 

TTTHEN  George  William  Curtis  returned  from  his  East- 
* * ern  travels  thirty-five  years  ago,  he  brought  with 
him  a manuscript  account  of  his  journeyings,  which  he 
carried  directly  to  Harper  & Brothers,  and  introducing  him- 
self to  the  late  Colonel  John  Harper,  said  to  him  that  he 
desired  a publisher  for  his  book  of  travels  in  Syria.  The 
colonel  looked  up  at  the  spruce  young  traveller  and  said  : 
“ We  have  just  published  a book  on  Syria.”  “ Then,”  said 
the  embryo  author,  “you  will  not  need  mine,”  and  turned 
to  go.  The  colonel  then  said  : “ Stop,  young  man,  don’t  be 
in  such  a hurry  : let  me  look  at  your  manuscript.”  After 
looking  over  a few  of  the  neatly-written  chapters,  Mr. 
Harper  said  : “We  will  publish  your  book,  and  you  may 
bring  us  all  the  manuscripts  on  Syria  you  choose,  if  written 
as  well  as  this.” 

And  thus  Mr.  Curtis’  “ Nile  Notes  of  the  Howadji,” 
which  was  written  and  brought  with  him  from  the  Nile, 
soon  appeared  from  the  press  of  Harper  & Brothers.  It 
was  the  precursor  of  the  “ Howadji  in  Syria,”  which  was 
soon  followed  by  a charming  volume  entitled  “ Lotus- 
Eating,”  beautifully  illustrated  by  his  intimate  friend, 
the  late  John  F.  Kensett. 

Of  this  book  the  London  News  said  : 

“ Of  such  a land  what  new  thing  remains  for  prose-poet  to 
sing  or  word-painter  to  draw?  The  answer  is,  this  little  book — 
the  unrhymed  poem — wild,  willful,  fantastic,  but  very  beautiful — 
of  a wanderer  from  beyond  the  Atlantic,  who  has  brought  a fresh 


684 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS. 


eye  and  heart  to  see  the  wonders  of  Egypt  and  a master  hand  to 
record  them.” 

I first  met  Mr.  Curtis  when  he  was  connected  with  a 
publishing  house  whose  disastrous  failure  soon  terminated 
his  career  as  a book  publisher — involving  the  firm  with  a 
load  of  debts,  which  he,  being  a special  partner  only,  was 
not  legally  obliged  to  pay,  but  he  considered  himself 
morally  responsible  for  the  debts,  and  did  pay  every  dollar 
from  the  proceeds  of  the  earnings  of  his  pen  and  eloquent 
lectures  which  became  so  popular  throughout  the  whole 
country. 

In  the  year  1853,  Mr.  Curtis  contributed  to  Putnam  s 
Monthly , which  had  recently  been  established,  and  of  which 
he  was  one  of  the  editors,  a series  of  satirical  sketches  on 
fashionable  society,  which  obtained  great  popularity  and 
were  afterwards  published  in  a volume  under  their  title, 
“The  Potiphar  Papers.” 

In  1856  Mr.  Curtis  entered  the  political  arena,  not  as 
an  office-seeker  or  an  office-holder,  for  he  has  never  been 
either,  but  a steady  friend  of  all  that  is  pure  in  politics.  I 
knew  him  first  as  a warm  advocate  for  the  election  of  John 
C.  Fremont ; then  again  as  the  eloquent  advocate  for  the 
nomination  of  Governor  Seward,  at  Chicago,  in  1860  ; and 
now,  a quarter  of  a century  later,  his  ringing  voice  and 
facile  pen  still  champion  the  cause  of  political  reform. 

That  charming  volume,  “ Prue  and  I,”  is  thus  spoken 
of  in  Mr.  F.  H.  Underwood’s  “ Hand-Book  of  English  Lit- 
erature ” : 

“A  pretty  rill  of  a story  runs  through  it  like  a musi- 
cal little  brook  through  a romantic  valley.  The  pervading 
sentiment  is  tender  and  pure.  The  lovely  young  matron 
‘Prue/ is  the  sharer  in  the  thoughts  and  reminiscences 
of  the  story-teller,  as  well  as  in  his  affection  and  measure- 
less content.  The  style  is  as  unpretentious  and  as  lovely 
as  the  story.  If  it  were  more  musical  its  melody  would 
glide  into  verse.  The  sketches  are  full  of  the  best  fruits 
of  reading  and  travel,  and  preserve  for  us  those  picturesque 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS. 


685 


associations  of  the  old  world  for  which  vve  look  in  the  note- 
book of  tourists  in  vain.” 

Mr.  Curtis  has  been,  for  more  than  a quarter  of  a cen- 
tury, the  editor  of  Harper’s  Weekly,  which  under  his  guid- 
ance has  become  not  only  an  influential  factor  in  politics, 
but  emphatically  what  it  claims  to  be — a journal  of  civili- 
zation. 

Mr.  Curtis  is  not  only  universally  known  as  an  author, 
journalist  and  statesman,  but  as  a lecturer  and  orator,  and 
in  my  opinion,  the  most  eloquent  and  graceful  since  the 
voices  of  Phillips  and  Sumner  have  been  forever  silenced. 
His  lecture  on  Sir  Philip  Sydney  is,  the  very  embodiment 
of  graceful  oratory. 

Mr.  S.  S.  Conant,  the  accomplished  executive  editor  of 
Harper’s  Weekly,  thus  speaks  of  Mr.  Curtis  in  an  article 
contributed  to  the  Century  Magazine  : 

“ His  devotion  to  journalism  and  political  affairs  has  prevented 
Mr.  Curtis  from  pursuing  authorship  as  a profession,  if  we  are  to 
regard  authorship  as  the  writing  of  books;  but  although  he  has 
put  forth  no  volume  since  the  publication  of  ‘Trumps,’  the 
readers  of  the  ‘Easy  Chair,’  in  Harper' a Magazine , and  on 
‘Manners  upon  the  Road,’ in  Harper's  Bazar , will  recognize  in 
him  the  most  charming  essayist  of  the  day.  The  delicate,  grace- 
ful humor  of  these  papers,  the  purity  of  style,  the  wide  range  of 
culture  and  observation  which  they  indicate,  but  which  is  never 
obtrusive,  give  them  a distinctive  character  of  their  own.  The 
‘ Easy  Chair’  is  the  first  part  of  the  magazine  to  which  the  reader 
turns.  The  author  of  ‘ Trumps,’  ‘ The  Potiphar  Papers,’  and 
‘ Prue  and  I,’ could  hardly  have  failed  as  a novelist,  had  he 
chosen  to  pursue  the  path  of  literature;  but  we  will  not  regret  his 
choice,  for  while  ws  have  many  novelists,  where  shall  we  look  for 
another  name  like  his  in  the  field  of  American  journalism  ?” 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Mr.  Curtis’  talents  are  not 
more  utilized  in  the  production  of  those  graceful  character 
sketches,  which  he  portrays  so  well.  In  that  direction  he 
could,  if  he  would,  secure  a fame  akin  to  that  of  his  well- 
known  personal  friend,  the  late  W.  M.  Thackeray. 


XLVIII. 

LOSSING— LESLIE— HAMMOND— VINCENT. 


BENSON  J.  BOSSING. 

A “ Pictorial  Author  ” — The  Field-Book  of  the  Revolu- 
tion — General  Putnam  chased  by  British  Troopers — 
Artistic  and  literary  Life — Anecdote  of  Daniel  Apple- 
ton — Contracts  with  George  W.  Childs — General 
Robert  F.  Lee  and  wife — Bossing’s  History  of  New 
York  City. 

IV/TR.  LOSSING  may  well  be  called  “ the  pictorial  au- 
thor/'  as  he  is  the  writer  of  many  valuable  histor- 
ical books,  prepared  by  himself  with  pen  and  pencil. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  career  of  Mr.  Lossing  as 
editor,  artist,  and  author  for  nearly  half  a century. 

The  first  time  he  saw  a history  of  any  kind  was  when 
nearly  fourteen  years  old  ; an  odd  volume  of  Gibbon's 
“ Rome,’'  which  fascinated  him  to  such  an  extent  that  he 
imbibed  a permanent  taste  for  historical  studies. 

At  the  age  of  twenty  years  young  Lossing  edited  a 
literary  paper  in  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  and  wishing  to 
illustrate  it,  he  paid  the  late  Joseph  A.  Adams  fifty  dol- 
lars for  two  weeks'  instruction  in  the  art  of  wood  engrav- 
ing. Mr.  Adams,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  the  famous 
wood  engraver  who  illustrated  Harper's  Pictorial  Bible 
forty  years  ago. 

The  Family  Magazine,  the  first  profusely  illustrated 
periodical  published  in  the  country,  and  issued  by  J.  S. 

[686] 


BENSON  J.  LOSSING. 


687 


Redfield,  needing  an  editor,  Mr.  Lossing  accepted  an  in- 
vitation to  become  its  conductor,  and  illustrator,  which 
circumstance  fixed  his  residence  in  New  York  City,  as  a 
professional  engraver  on  wood. 

He  pursued  the  business  about  thirty  years  (twenty-six 
of  which  were  in  partnership  with  Mr.  Barrett)  * at  the 
same  time  engagingin  literary  pursuits,  and  for  many  years 
he  did  most  of  the  engraving  for  Harper  & Brothers,  for 
their  illustrated  publications. 

Mr.  Bossing’s  first  book  was  an  Outline  “ History  of 
the  Fine  Arts,”  published  in  1840,  which  formed  one  of  the 
volumes  of  Harper’s  Family  Library.  In  1848  he  began 
his  first  great  work,  “ The  Pictorial  Field-Book  of  the 
Revolution,”  and  from  that  time  to  the  present  he  has  been 
engaged  in  the  production  of  illustrated  works  on  American 
History  and  Biography,  and  in  making  extensive  contri- 
butions to  the  magazines  of  the  day — especially  Harper’s 
Monthly. 

The  “ Pictorial  Field-Book  of  the  Revolution,”  was  con- 
ceived accidentally  and  in  this  wise.  In  June,  1848,  Mr. 
Lossing  was  riding  toward  Stamford  from  Greenwich,  Con- 
necticut. Descending  a steep  declivity  by  a road  which  has 
been  cut  deeply  in  it  so  as  to  make  the  descent  gentle,  he 
perceived  a flight  of  rough,  irregular  steps,  formed  of  rocks 
upon  the  side  which  were  nearly  concealed  by  bushes. 
Standing  at  the  door-yard  gate  of  a house  near  by,  was 
an  old  gentleman,  of  whom  he  inquired  the  history  of  those 
rocky  stairs.  “Why  !”  said  the  venerable  man,  “there 
is  where  General  Putnam  came  down  when  chased  by 
British  troopers,  and  escaped.  I saw  the  performance.” 
The  informant  was  General  Mead  of  the  Connecticut 
Militia,  in  the  Revolution. 

Mr.  Lossing  made  a sketch  of  the  locality,  and  was 
deeply  impressed  with  the  thought  that  these  steps,  the 
lingering  relics  of  a stirring  event  in  our  Revolutionary 


* Of  the  well-known  firm  of  Lossing  & Barrett. 


688 


BENSON  J.  LOSSING. 


history,  offered  a prophesy  of  the  fate  of  all  other  existing 
remains  of  things  and  events  of  that  period  : to  be  cov- 
ered up  with  the  bushes  of  oblivion  and  lost  to  the  future 
historian. 

Mr.  Lossing  conceived  an  irrepressible  desire  to  go  out 
to  the  Revolutionary  remains  everywhere,  make  drawings 
and  descriptions  of  everything  and  every  locality  connected 
with  that  great  event  of  our  national  history  and  to  pre- 
serve them  in  a private  book.  Before  he  slept  that  night, 
the  plan  of  his  Pictorial  Field-Book  of  the  Revolution  was 
formed.  On  his  return  home,  he  took  two  pieces  of  draw- 
ing-paper, marked  upon  them  the  proposed  size  of  the 
page,  then  drew  some  pictures  in  sepia  to  show  the  pro- 
posed mode  of  illustrating  it,  and  with  the  title-page, 
submitted  the  matter  to  the  consideration  of  Harper  & 
Brothers.  A contract  was  speedily  concluded  before  a 
drawing  was  made  or  a word  written;  and  within  a fortnight 
afterwards  Mr.  Lossing  was  on  his  way  to  the  site  of  the 
battle-fields  of  the  Revolution,  gathering  incidents  with  pen 
and  pencil.  In  this  task  he  traveled  over  9000  miles  between 
Canada  and  Florida.  He  drew  most  of  his  sketches  on 
the  blocks  for  the  engraver,  and  prepared  the  work  complete 
with  his  unaided  hand  and  brain  in  the  space  of  twenty- 
two  months.  The  work,  containing  1500  octavo  pages  of 
letter-press  profusely  annotated,  and  about  1100  illustra- 
tions, was  soon  after  published  in  two  large  volumes. 

Washington  Irving  wrote  to  Mr.  Lossing  on  its  publica- 
tion, as  follows  : 


“ Sunny  Side,  Jan.  4,  1852. 

“I  have  the  ‘Field-Book’  constantly  by  me  for  perusal  and 
reference.  While  I have  been  delighted  by  the  freshness,  freedom 
and  spirit  of  your  narrative  and  the  graphic  effect  of  your  descrip- 
tions, I have  been  gratified  at  finding  how  scrupulously  attentive 
you  have  been  to  accuracy  as  to  facts,  which  is  so  essential  in 
writings  of  an  historical  nature.  As  I observed  on  a former  occa- 
sion, there  is  a genial  spirit  throughout  your  whole  work  that 
wins  the  good-will  of  the  reader. 


BENSON"  J.  LOSSING. 


689 


“ I am  surprised  to  find  in  how  short  a time  you  have  accom- 
plished your  undertaking,  considering  you  have  had  to  travel  from 
Dan  to  Beersheba  to  collect  facts  and  anecdotes,  sketch  and  en- 
grave, write,  print  and  correct  the  proofs,  and  with  all  this  to  have 
accomplished  it  in  so  satisfactory  a manner.” 


Mr.  Lossing's  artistic  and  literary  life  lias  been  a very 
quiet  and  unobtrusive  one.  Most  of  the  books  written  by 
him  have  been  the  result  of  the  requests  or  suggestions  of 
others.  His  “ Field-Books  ” and  his  4 4 Cyclopaedias  ” were 
conceptions  of  his  own.  His  intercourse  with  publishers, 
both  as  an  engraver  and  author,  has  been  chiefly  of  a busi- 
ness nature,  but  of  the  most  friendly  character,  each  party 
always  entertaining  the  most  cordial  good  will  toward  the 
other  when  an  acquaintance  was  established. 

The  circumstances  of  his  first  introduction  to  Harper 
& Brothers  were  amusing,  but  resulted  in  lasting  mutual 
esteem,  which  continues  with  their  descendants  and  sur- 
vivors. 

Mr.  Lossing  relates  with  pleasure  his  first  introduction 
to  Daniel  Appleton,  the  founder  of  the  house  of  D.  Apple- 
ton  & Co.  The  latter  was  about  to  republish  a little 
German  book  for  children,  containing  about  one  hundred^ 
small  woodcuts.  He  inquired  one  day  of  Mr.  Lossing 
what  he  would  charge  to  re-engrave  them.  The  latter 
replied  : “ When  I go  out  to  lunch  I will  call  and  give  you 
an  answer.” 

Mr.  Lossing  agreed  to  engrave  them  for  four  dollars  each. 
He  heard  nothing  further  concerning  them  for  several 
weeks.  Meeting  Mr.  Appleton  one  day,  he  inquired  of 
him  if  he  intended  to  have  the  engravings  copied.  The 
latter  was  a man  of  few  words,  and  to  those  who  were  un- 
acquainted with  the  kindness  of  his  heart,  he  sometimes 
appeared  rude  in  his  curt  manner  of  speech.  To  Mr.  Los- 
sing's  question  he  answered,  “ Yes  ; but  you  won't  do 
them.” 

“ Allow  me  to  inquire  why,”  said  Mr.  Lossing. 


690 


BENSON  J.  LOSSING. 


“ Another  engraver  has  offered  to  do  them  for  two 
dollars  a piece,"  responded  Mr.  Appleton. 

“ He  has  not  examined  them  sufficiently  to  observe  the 
amount  of  work  on  them,  and  will  shave  himself,"  said 
Mr.  Lossing,  “or  he  will  shave  you." 

“ Good  engraver,”  was  the  reply. 

Several  months  afterwards  Mr.  Appleton  called  on  Mr. 
Lossing  with  a copy  of  an  English  edition  of  “ Puss  in 
Boots,"  with  colored  lithographic  plates,  and  inquired  at 
what  price  he  would  redraw  and  engrave  them  on  a smaller 
scale.  Mr.  Lossing  made  the  same  answer  as  before  ; when 
he  called,  he  named  his  price. 

“Do  them,"  said  Mr.  Appleton. 

As  Mr.  Lossing  turned  to  go,  Mr.  Appleton  said  curtly, 
“ Come  here.  Do  you  remember  what  you  said  about  the 
engraver  that  was  re-engraving  those  woodcuts  in  the  Ger- 
man book  ?" 

“Yes  ; I said  he  would  shave  himself  or  shave  you." 

“ Shaved  me,"  was  the  laconic  response,  and  this  was 
all  that  was  said.  The  pictures  of  “ Puss  in  Boots"  were 
executed  by  Mr.  Lossing  and  gave  satisfaction. 

Mr.  Lossing  was  also  the  editor  of  “ The  Recollections 
and  Private  Memoirs  of  George  Washington,"  by  his 
adopted  son,  George  Washington  Parke  Custis,  with  a 
memoir  of  the  author  by  his  daughter,  which  volume  was 
published  by  my  firm  in  the  year  1860.  The  proof-sheets 
were  read  by  the  husband  of  the  author  of  the  Memoir,  Gen- 
eral Robert  E.  Lee,  who  called  regularly  to  read  them  at 
my  office,  in  Nassau  Street.  General  Lee  at  that  time  was 
commandant  at  West  Point,  and  this  was  the  occasion  of 
my  acquaintance  with  that  distinguished  military  genius, 
who  was  so  soon  to  lead  the  Confederate  forces. 

Previous  to  the  death  of  General  Lee  (Oct.  12,  1870), 
the  following  letter  was  received  from  his  wife  : 

“ Lexington,  Jan.  20th,  1869. 

44  My  Dear  Sir  : 

“I  regret  that  I have  nothing  left  of  my  father’s  that  would 


I 


BENSON  J.  LOSSING.  691 

suit  for  your  friend’s  pnper.  He  can  extract  from  the  ‘"Recollec- 
tions’many  interesting  anecdotes,  though  this  is  not  the  time 
when  anything  relating  to  the  great  Washington  or  his  descendants 
has  the  least  interest  for  the  public  mind.  The  necessity  for  bury- 
ing many  things  of  value  during  the  war,  under  ground,  has  so 
defaced  the  few  papers  I was  able  to  rescue  from  my  home  as  to 
render  them  illegible. 

“Yours  most  respectfully, 

“ Mary  Custis  Lee. 

“To  Mr.  J.  C.  Derby.” 

The  preparation  of  the  “ Pictorial  Field-Book  of  the 
Civil  War,”  in  three  volumes,  was  proposed  to  Mr.  Lossing 
to  prepare  by  Mr.  George  W.  Childs,  in  1862,  whose  liberal 
offer  for  a full  history  of  the  war  was  accepted,  and  in  its 
preparation  the  author  visited  every  battle-ground  of  note 
of  the  rebellion.  It  was  published  in  1868  in  three  pro- 
fusely illustrated  volumes. 

In  gathering  material  for  his  three  Field-Books,  Mr. 
Lossing  has  traveled  about  thirty  thousand  miles.  Be- 
sides the  works  already  mentioned,  Mr.  Lossing  is  the 
author  of  more  than  thirty  historical  works,  all  illustrated 
by  himself,  or  under  his  directions.  His  latest  work, 
“The  History  of  New  York  City,”  published  by  George  E. 
Perine,  the  well  known  engraver,  is  finely  illustrated  witli 
nearly  two  hundred  portraits  and  vignettes,  all  on  steel. 

Mr.  Lossing’s  services  in  the  field  of  historical  litera- 
ture have  been  recognized  by  institutions  of  learning  and 
by  various  associations.  In  1855  Hamilton  College,  N.  Y., 
conferred  on  him  the  honorary  degree  of  A.  M.,  and  the 
same  degree  was  awarded  him  by  Columbia  College,  New 
York  City,  in  1870.  In  1873  the  honorary  degree  of 
LL.D.  was  conferred  on  him  by  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the 
University  of  Michigan.  He  is  a member  of  fourteen  soci- 
eties, historical,  antiquarian  and  literary. 


692 


MIRIAM  FLORENCE  LESLIE. 


MIRIAM  FLORENCE  LESLIE  (FRANK  LESLIE). 

“ From  Gotham  to  the  Golden  Gate  ” — The  Founder  of 
Illustrated  Journalism — Commodore  Vanderbilt  and 
Saratoga  Lake — “ Go  to  my  Office  and  sit  in  my  place  ” 
— “ I hear  you  leant  a good  deal  of  Money  ” — A fifty 
thousand  dollar  Friend  in  time  of  need — Excitement 
caused  by  Garfield’s  Death — A Brave  Woman  and  the 
Printers’  Strike — Rev.  Dr.  Deems  and  Rev.  Dr.  Tat- 
madge — Thomas  Nast’s  first  Employment — A Woman’s 
capacity  for  Business. 

1K/TBS.  LESLIE’S  first  book  was  entitled,  “Unexplored 
^ * Regions  of  Central  America/’  published  by  Leypoldt 
& Holt,  in  the  English,  German  and  Spanish  languages. 
Her  next  work,  a book  of  travels  on  California,  called 
“ From  Gotham  to  the  Golden  Gate,”  was  published  by 
G.  W.  Carleton  & Co. 

Besides  being  an  author,  Mrs.  Leslie  is  also  a publisher, 
having  the  entire  charge  of  the  “ Frank  Leslie  Publishing 
House,”  since  her  husband’s  death.  To  those  of  my 
readers  who  are  not  acquainted  with  the  facts  of  her 
accession  to  that  large  business,  it  will  be  interesting  to 
learn  some  parts  of  her  career  as  a publisher,  which  to  in- 
troduce properly,  will  necessitate  a few  words  concerning 
her  late  husband  : 

Frank  Leslie  deserves  to  be  called  the  pioneer  and 
founder  of  illustrated  journalism  in  America.  He  possessed 
the  qualifications  required  to  command  success.  Himself 
an  artist  and  engraver  of  rare  merit,  he  understood  the 
business  perfectly  from  its  artistic  side,  and  was  constantly 
introducing  new  improvements  in  engraving.  Equally 
complete  was  his  knowledge  of  the  business  from  the 
literary  standpoint.  He  understood  what  the  great  reading 
public  in  this  country  wanted,  and  provided  it,  so  that  all 


MIRIAM  FLORENCE  LESLIE. 


693 


tastes  were  satisfied  by  one  or  another  of  his  many  publica- 
tions. He  was  master  of  the  whole  establishment,  from 
top  to  bottom,  and  understood  every  detail,  so  that  if  any- 
thing went  wrong  in  the  engraving  rooms,  the  press-room 
or  any  other  department,  he  could  straighten  it  out  at  once. 
He  was  never  better  equipped  for  the  management  of  his 
great  business  than  at  the  close  of  1879. 

Mr.  Frank  Leslie  was  in  perfect  health  within  ten  days 
of  his  death,  when  a sudden  ailment  overtook  him. 

On  being  informed  by  his  physicians  that  he  must  cer- 
tainly speedily  die,  he  went  immediately  to  work  to  arrange 
bis  business  and  simplify  it  as  much  as  possible.  He 
dictated  something  like  fourteen  pages  of  instructions  about 
everything  connected  with  his  business.  He  closed  by 
saying,  “When  I am  gone,  I do  not  wish  my  wife  to  be 
hampered  by  the  disposal  of  the  Saratoga  property,  for  my 
love  for  it,  let  her  remember,  dies  with  me.  I think  she 
may  sell  it  to  advantage  to  such  and  such  persons/’ 

"fhis  beautiful  spot  referred  to  by  Mr.  Leslie,  was 
located  on  Saratoga  Lake.  On  one  occasion  I remember 
accompanying  the  late  Commodore  Vanderbilt  in  a drive 
to  the  cottage  Interlaken,  overhanging  the  lake,  where  we 
were  pleasantly  received  by  the  host  and  hostess. 

Mr.  Leslie  gave  instructions  about  everything  connected 
with  the  business,  to  his  wife,  to  whom  he  said,  “ Go  to 
iny  office,  sit  in  my  place,  and  do  my  work  until  my  debts 
are  paid.”  A few  days  later  the  artist-publisher  was  dead. 

Soon  after,  upon  taking  charge  of  the  business,  Mrs. 
Leslie  found  that  more  than  $100,000  in  debts,  remained  to 
be  paid.  The  young  widow,  so  little  experienced  in  finan- 
cial business,  was  appalled  at  the  situation.  The  creditors 
had  to  be  met  and  satisfied,  and  that  without  delay. 

A little  office  boy  to  whom  Mr.  Leslie  had  been  kind, 
came  to  her  one  day  and  said,  “ Mrs.  Leslie,  I hear  you 
want  a good  deal  of  money  to  get  out  of  your  difficulties 
and  being  answered  in  the  affirmative,  he  continued,  “I 
have  been  up  to  see  a lady  who  visits  another  lady  who 


694 


MIRIAM  FLORENCE  LESLIE. 


lives  in  a board ing-house  where  I am.  She  is  very  rich 
and  very  charitable.  She  said  she  would  come  down  and 
see  you.” 

The  next  day  the  lady  called  at  the  office  and  talked 
over  the  matter  with  Mrs.  Leslie  for  a while,  and  became 
much  interested  ; she  came  to  see  her  again,  and  finally  told, 
her  to  go  and  see  her  lawyers,  and  if  she  had  the  right  kind 
of  security,  she  should  have  the  $50,000,  so  much  needed. 

After  waiting  for  two  weeks,  Mrs.  Leslie  received  from 
the  lady’s  lawyers  the  answer  that  the  security  was  good 
enough,  but  that  during  the  three  weeks  while  the  property 
was  being  transferred  from  the  creditors  to  her,  their  client 
would  not  be  guaranteed,  so  they  would  not  advise  her  to 
make  the  loan.  That  was  at  five  o’clock  on  Wednesday 
afternoon.  At  ten  o’clock  on  Thursday  morning  the  com- 
promise contract  made  with  the  creditors  would  have  lapsed 
unless  the  money  was  paid. 

The  next  morning  her  good  friend  came  to  the  office, 
and  during  their  conversation,  Mrs.  Leslie  said,  “ My 
jewelry  is  not  much,  but  take  all  of  that,  take  everything 
that  is  possible  upon  which  she  decided  to  let  her  have 
the  money.  A great  many  people  came  to  her  after  she 
made  the  loan,  and  said,  “ Mrs.  Leslie,  why  didn’t  you 
come  to  me  ? You  might  have  had  it  for  the  asking.”  This 
was  on  the  1st  day  of  July.  On  the  29tli  of  December  the 
whole  amount,  $50,000  with  interest,  was  paid,  all  within 
four  months. 

The  boy,  through  whose  means  Mrs.  Leslie  received  her 
timely  aid,  is  still  with  her,  and  is  getting  to  be  quite  an 
artist.  He  brought  some  of  his  sketches  to  Mr.  Leslie  a 
short  time  before  the  latter’s  death,  and  wished  him  to  take 
him  as  an  artist.  Mr.  Leslie  said,  “ I can’t  take  you  in.” 
“ Let  me  come  in,  in  any  capacity  ?”  replied  the  boy,  “I 
will  go  in  and  learn  to  draw  better.”  Said  Mr.  Leslie,  “You 
deserve  to  come  into  the  establishment  for  your  persever- 
ance, if  not  for  your  artistic  ability.” 

Mrs.  Leslie's  good  friend  who  loaned  her  the  money, 


MIRIAM  FLORENCE  LESLIE. 


695 


was  a woman  worth  $3,000,000,  her  husband  having  a 
joint  interest  with  her.  She  was  a noble,  generous-hearted 
lady.  Her  lawyers  said  she  was  the  best  business  woman 
they  had  ever  known. 

The  excitement  caused  by  President  Garfield's  death 
enabled  Mrs.  Leslie  to  pay  off  the  debt  so  soon.  It  caused 
the  sale  of  200,000  extra  copies  of  her  paper.  The  Presi- 
dent died  late  on  Monday  evening,  September  19,  and  the 
Illustrated  Newspaper  had  already  gone  to  press  when  the 
news  arrived.  Mrs.  Leslie  did  not  hesitate  a moment.  She 
immediately  ordered  the  presses  stopped,  destroyed  the  part 
of  the  edition  already  published,  set  the  whole  force  of  the 
establishment  at  work  preparing  a new  edition  with  en- 
gravings of  the  sketches  sent  over  early  Tuesday  morning 
by  the  artists  at  Elberon,  and  before  Wednesday  night 
had  on  sale  a paper  full  of  illustrations  of  the  death-bed 
scenes. 

A week  later  she  seized  another  opportunity^  The 
dead  President's  body  was  to  be  conveyed  to  Washington 
on  the  Wednesday  after  his  death,  and  funeral  services  were 
to  be  held  in  the  Capitol  on  Friday,  before  the  removal  of 
the  remains  to  Cleveland  for  the  final  ceremonies.  Mrs. 
Leslie  resolved  to  anticipate  the  usual  day  of  publication 
the  following  week,  and  deposit  in  Cleveland,  papers  con- 
taining full  illustrations  of  the  scenes  at  Washington  on 
Monday  morning.  She  sent  for  the  president  of  the 
American  Hews  Company,  and  communicated  her  purpose. 
He  was  incredulous  and  doubtful,  but  she  insisted  that  it 
could  be  done  and  should  be  done,  and  it  was.  Ho  less 
than  30,000  copies  of  the  Weekly  were  sent  to  Cleveland, 
where  they  were  sold  so  readily  that  it  is  believed  as  many 
more  could  have  been  easily  disposed  of. 

Mrs.  Leslie  occupies  now  quite  an  independent  position, 
having  entire  control  of  the  establishment. 

At  one  time  a strike  occurred  in  one  of  the  depart- 
ments, a short  time  since ; not  on  account  of  wages,  but 
because  the  engravers  were  displeased  with  the  foreman, 


696 


MIRIAM  FLORENCE  LESLIE. 


who  told  her  one  morning  that  there  was  a terrible  strike 
among  them  up-stairs,  and  they  had  threatened  to  throw 
him  out  of  the  window.  Mrs.  Leslie  overcame  them  by 
saying,  “ I am  ashamed  of  you  to  treat  an  engraver’s 
widow  in  this  way.  You  owe  me  some  allegiance.”  The 
strike  only  lasted  two  or  three  days.  The  strikers  all 
came  back  and  worked  all  night. 

There  are  nine  different  departments  in  the  business, 
and  each  head  reports  to  her.  Each  publication  has  its  own 
editor  and  is  just  as  separate  and  distinct  as  if  it  were 
another  establishment. 

Rev.  Dr.  Deems  was  the  founder  of  the  Sunday  Maga- 
zine, but  it  is  now  edited  by  Rev.  T.  De  Witt  Talmadge. 
Dr.  Deems,  however,  still  feels  great  interest  in  it,  and 
writes  for  it  occasionally. 

The  editors  of  the  different  periodicals  published  by 
Frank  Leslie  send  in  the  subjects  to  her,  when,  if  an  edi- 
torial is  to  be  written,  she  says,  “ Write  an  editorial  on 
that,” — finding  her  sphere  of  usefulness  is  greater  in 
directing  than  in  writing.  She  looks  at  the  manuscript  of 
every  new  story  in  all  the  publications,  having  readers  who 
weed  out  all  the  trash  and  write  a synopsis  of  the  good 
ones  ; after  which  she  runs  them  through  herself. 

One  time,  when  in  London,  she  called  upon  the  pro- 
prietors of  the  Illustrated  London  News , from  whence  Mr. 
Leslie  graduated.  He  told  her  that  no  person  had  ever 
entered  his  establishment  who  was  so  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  every  detail  of  the  business.  Said  he,  “ There  are 
questions  you  ask  me  that  I cannot  answer  without  calling 
in  my  employees  to  consult  them.” 

Frank  Leslie’s  establishment  has  been  a great  school  for 
artists ; and  nearly  all  who  have  attained  prominence  in 
their  profession  have  been  connected  with  it.  Joseph 
Keppler,  now  the  famous  artist  of  “Puck,”  was  at  one 
time  employed  by  Mr.  Leslie. 

Mr.  James  Parton,  in  his  “Triumphs  of  Enterprise,” 
relates  the  beginning  of  Thomas  Nast’s  career  as  follows  : 


WILLIAM  A.  HAMMOND,  M.D. 


697 


“Having  now  reached  the  age  of  sixteen,  Thomas  Nast  boldly 
applied  to  Mr.  Frank  Leslie  for  employment  as  a draughtsman. 
Being  remarkably  short  for  his  age,  and  of  a boyish  expression  of 
countenance,  the  publisher  looked  at  him  with  astonishment. 

“ ‘What,  my  boy,’  said  he,  ‘so  you  think  you  can  draw  well 
enough  for  my  paper,  do  you?” 

“ ‘I  would  like  to  try,’  said  the  youth. 

“‘Well,’  rejoined  Mr.  Leslie,  ‘you  shall.  Go  down  to  the 
Hoboken  ferry-boat  and  bring  me  a drawing  of  the  scene  just  as 
the  boat  is  coming  into  the  dock.’ 

“ This  was  putting  the  lad  to  a severe  test.  Mr.  Leslie  has 
since  told  me  that  he  had  no  expectation  of  the  ‘ little  fellow’s’ 
doing  it,  and  gave  him  the  job  merely  for  the  purpose  of  bringing 
home  to  his  youthful  mind  the  absurdity  of  his  application.  The 
young  artist  repaired  immediately  to  the  ferry-house,  where  he  at 
once  proceeded  to  the  performance  of  the  difficult  task  assigned 
to  him.  He  struck  boldly,  however,  upon  the  paper,  and  produced 
a sketch,  which,  though  far  from  correct,  abounded  in  those 
g aphic  and  vigorous  touches  so  needful  in  popular  illustration. 
Mr.  Leslie  saw  at  a glance  its  merits  and  defects,  and  at  once 
made  a place  for  him  in  his  establishment,  at  boy’s  wages  of  five 
dollars  a week.” 

There  is  not  a detail  throughout  the  various  depart- 
ments of  the  Frank  Leslie  establishment  that  Mrs.  Leslie 
does  not  understand.  She  has  fully  demonstrated  woman’s 
capacity  for  business. 


WILLIAM  A.  HAMMOND,  M.D. 

An  eminent  Surgeon  in  a new  Hole — “ Knows  how  to  tell  a 
Story  ” — Suppresses  his  first  Novel — Great  Booh  cn 
Nervous  Diseases — Cashiered  as  Surgeon- General— 
Restored  to  Office  by  Act  of  Congress — “ The  best 
Friend  the  Soldier  had ” — “ A long-delayed  but  com- 
plete Triumph” 

T^K.  W.  A.  HAMMOND  has  recently  appeared  again 
before  the  public  in  the  role  of  a novelist,  by  the 
publication  of  a Western  romance,  the  scene  of  which  is 


698 


WILLIAM  A.  HAMMOND,  M.D. 


laid  in  Colorado,  and  the  story  bearing  the  title  “ Lai,”  it 
being  an  abridgment  of  the  heroine’s  name. 

Havirg  read  the  novel  in  manuscript,  I fully  agree  with 
the  Commercial  Advertiser  in  the  opinion,  that  “ Dr. 
Hammond  knows  how  to  tell  a story  entertainingly,  and 
that  is  the  chief  point  in  novel  writing.”  And  also  with 
that  excellent  critical  authority,  the  New  York  Tribune , 
which,  in  a very  complimentary  review  of  the  book,  says  : 

“ Dr.  Hammond’s  essay  in  fiction  will  be  regarded  with  espe- 
cial interest  on  account  of  the  celebrity  which  the  author  has  ac- 
quired in  work  of  a very  different  kind;  but  it  will  not  depend 
for  popularity  on  any  outside  considerations.  It  possesses  the 
great  merit  of  being  interesting  from  beginning  to  end.  The 
characters  are  striking,  and  several  of  them  have  an  element  of 
originality;  the  incidents  are  abundant  and  effective;  the  situa- 
tions are  well  devised,  and  if  there  is  not  much  intricacy  in  the 
plot,  there  is  a certain  bustle  and  rapidity  of  movement  which 
answers  instead  of  more  complicated  machinery.  Here,  it  will  be 
seen,  are  some  of  the  most  important  qualities  of  a good  story; 
and  we  risk  nothing  in  predicting  for  ‘ Lai  ’ a notable  success.” 

In  a recent  conversation  with  Dr.  Hammond  about  the 
true  province  of  a novel  writer,  he  said: 

“ The  true  novelist  aims  at  amusing  his  reader  first.  If  he  can 
instruct  at  the  same  time,  so  much  the  better.  No  novel  should 
be  written  with  the  purpose  of  instructing  as  the  prime  object,  the 
most  potent  consideration.  I hold  that  it  is  entirely  and  utterly 
wrong  to  write  a novel  for  the  purpose  of  merely  exposing  one’s 
views  of  the  world  at  large,  or  of  some  section  of  its  economy  in 
particular.  To  amuse  is  the  fitting  function  of  a novel.  Conse- 
quently, in  a good  novel,  more  importance  attaches  to  incident 
than  to  plot,  and  I consider  that  Bret  Harte  and  Julian  Hawthorne 
are  the  first  novelists  in  America  to-day,  because  they  properly 
appreciate  this  fact.  They  begin  with  incident,  continue  with 
incident,  and  end  with  incident.  It  is,  I know,  difficult  some- 
times to  get  the  public  to  seize  the  correct  idea.  Bret  Harte  and 
Julian  Hawthorne  were  not  recognized  as  true  artists  all  at  once. 


699 


WILLIAM  A.  HAMMOND,  M.D. 

They  have  grown  slowly  but  surely,  and  with  them  has  been  de- 
veloped the  novel  in  its  highest  form. 

“ In  writing  novels  I have  another  object  in  view.  I am 
creating  a new  world  for  myself.  The  characters  are  new  ac- 
quaintances. The  women  I almost  fall  in  love  with;  I learn  to 
like  some  of  the  men,  to  dislike  others.  Wherever  I go  I take 
them  with  me.  I converse  with  them  in  my  room,  in  my  carriage; 
in  fact,  I never  know  what  it  is  to  be  separated  from  them.” 

Twenty  years  ago  Dr.  Hammond  published  a novel  en- 
titled “ Robert  Severne,”  but  the  author  was  its  best  cus- 
mer  ; he  was  unlike  R.  H.  Stoddard,  the  poet,*  for  he  bought 
up  the  entire  remainder  of  the  edition  printed,  and  safely 
stored  them  away  in  his  cellar,  possibly  to  he  used  some  day 
as  an  anodyne  for  his  patients — the  kind  of  medicine  the 
aucMor  of  the  Sparrowgrass  Papers  once  gave  Thackeray. 

But  Dr.  Hammond  must  not  be  classed  simply  as  a 
writer  of  fiction  ; he  is  the  author  of  many  important 
medical  works,  the  most  important  of  which  is  “ A Treatise 
on  the  Diseases  of  the  Nervous  System/’  which  has  been 
translated  into  French  and  Italian,  and  is  used  as  a text- 
book in  several  English  schools  of  medicine. 

While  serving  in  the  army.  Dr.  Hammond  was  ap- 
pointed surgeon-general,  by  the  advice  of  General  McClel- 
lan, from  a list  of  competitors  furnished  by  the  United 
States  Sanitary  Commission,  who  decided  that  he  was  the 
man  the  army  wanted,  as  soon  as  his  name  was  men- 
tioned. 

He  was  dismissed  from  office  by  the  Secretary  of  War, 
tried  by  court-martial,  not  cashiered,  and  was  afterwards 
amply  vindicated,  as  shown  by  the  following  letter  from  the 
Secretary  of  War,  ard  also  the  subsequent  action  of  Con- 
gress : 

“War  Department, 
“Washington,  Sept.  4,  1879. 

“My  Dear  Sir  : I am  in  receipt  of  your  kind  favor  of  the  2d 
instant. 


* See  page  599. 


700 


WILLIAM  A.  HAMMOND,  M.D. 


“Upon  reaching  the  conclusion,  after  a thorough  examination 
of  your  case,  that  a great  wrong  had  been  done  you,  and  that  you 
were  clearly  entitled  to  vindication,  it  was  with  great  pleasure 
that  I recommended  your  restoration  to  the  army. 

“I  can  say  to  you  with  the  utmost  sincerity  that  I have  never 
performed  an  official  act  with  a clearer  conviction  that  I was  doing 
simple  justice. 

“ I am  glad  to  note  the  fact  that  the  country,  with  scarcely  a 
dissenting  voice,  approves  and  applauds  the  act,  and  I beg  most 
heartily  to  congratulate  you  upon  your  long-delayed  but  complete 
triumph.  “ Very  sincerely, 

(Signed)  “Geo.  W.  McCrary. 

“Brig.-Gen.  William  A.  Hammond, 

“Surgeon-General  United  States  Army 
“(retired),  New  York.” 

The  excellent  authority,  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Bellows,  the 
efficient  head  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  during  the  war, 
wrote  as  follows  to  the  War  Department  about  the  time  of 
Dr.  Hammond’s  dismissal  : — 

“ The  Surgeon-General  has  brought  order  out  of  chaos  in  his 
department,  and  efficiency  out  of  imbecility.  The  sick  and 
wounded  owe  a hundred  times  over  more  to  the  Government  and 
the  Medical  Department  than  to  all  the  outside  influences  and 
benevolence  of  the  country  combined,  including  the  Sanitary  Com- 
mission. Surgeon-General  Hammond  is  the  best  friend  the  soldier 
has  in  this  country,  because  he  wields  the  benevolence  of  the 
United  States  Government.  For  God’s  sake,  don’t  thwart  his  zeal 
and  wisdom.” 

Notwithstanding  Dr.  Hammond’s  immense  clientage  of 
patients  from  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  he  finds  time 
to  devote  himself  to  literary  work,  as  he  intends  to  give  in 
the  guise  of  fiction  his  views  of  those  topics  of  the  times 
which  are  now  attracting  public  attention. 


FRANK  VINCENT,  JR. 


701 


FRANK  VINCENT,  Jr. 


The  Land  of  the  White  Elephant — Nehemiah  Adams  and 
the  “ Golden  Fleece ” — One  Hundred  and  Fifty  Thou- 
sand Miles  of  Travels — “ As  many  Burmese  Wives  as 
I wanted” — “ Through  and  through  the  Tropics ” — 
Wonderful  ruins  of  Cambodia — New  York  the  best 
place  of  all.” 


Tj^RANK  VINCENT,  Jr.,  the  author  of  the  now  famous 
work,  “The  Land  of  the  White  Elephant,”  was  at  one 
time  clerk  in  a Broadway  book-store.  This  was  while  yet  in 
his  teens,  when  his  health  having  become  impaired  by  his 
previous  close  application  to  study  while  at  college,  his 
physicians  ordered  him  on  a long  sea  voyage. 

Accordingly,  in  the  year  1863,  in  company  with  the  late 
Rev.  Nehemiah  Adams,  of  Boston,  he  sailed  from  New 
York  in  the  clipper  ship  “Golden  Fleece,”  on  a voyage 
around  Cape  Horn  to  San  Francisco,  where,  upon  his 
arrival,  he  decided  to  travel  still  further,  with  the  resolu- 
tion to  penetrate  Eastern  Asia,  not  expecting,  however^ 
that  such  a decision  would  take  him  away  from  home  for 
several  years,  during  which  time  all  the  oceans  and  conti- 
nents of  the  globe  would  be  visited  by  him. 

Within  a total  period  of  six  years  Mr.  Vincent  has 
traveled  by  sea  and  land,  “up,  down  and  around”  the 
world,  a distance  of  more  then  150,000  miles. 

He  has  received  a “grand  gold  medal  of  honor”  from 
the  King  of  Siam,  and  decorations  from  the  kings  of 
Burmali  and  Cambodia. 

Mr.  Vincent  first  met  the  King  of  Burmali  in  1876. 
He  relates  the  following  account  of  his  first  interview  with 
that  potential  monarch  : 


“It  seems  I had  the  honor  to  be  the  first  American  presented 
at  the  Court  of  Burmali,  and  that  the  King,  in  his  astuteness,  gra- 


702 


FRANK  VINCENT,  JR. 

ciouslv  thought  me  a spy,  or,  at  least,  that  I was  visiting  Burmah 
for  political  purposes,  and  consequently  had  some  influence  with, 
as  well  as  instructions  from,  the  government  at  home.  It  was  in 
vain  I protested  that  I was  a simple  traveler,  visiting  different 
countries  for  the  purpose  of  studying  their  people  and  produc- 
tions, and  that  I had  journeyed  about  12,000  miles  more  especially 
to  pay  my  respects  to  the  King  of  Burmah,  and  to  see  the  wonder- 
ful white  elephant,  about  which  I had  read  so  much  in  my  own 
country.  These  complimentary  avowals  were  to  no  purpose,  for 
it  was  quite  evident  his  Majesty  thought  politics  were  surely  my 
main  object.  After  the  usual  questions  concerning  my  age,  busi- 
ness, residence  and  travels,  the  King  said  he  wished  me  to  convey 
to  my  government  the  sentiment  that  he  had  a great  partiality  for 
Americans,  and  wished  them  to  come  over  and  colonize  in  his 
dominions.  In  reply,  I promised  to  make  his  wishes  known  to 
the  proper  American  authorities,  but  this  did  not  seem  to  be  suffi- 
cient, for  he  answered  that  he  would  retain  me  in  Mandalay  while 
I wrote,  and  until  word  came  from  America.  At  this  I demurred, 
of  course,  when  his  Majesty  said  that  if  I would  remain  he  would 
give  me  a house,  living,  and  as  many  Burmese  wives  as  I wished 
(a  rather  tempting  offer,  for  the  women  of  the  upper  classes  are 
pretty,  intelligent  and  modest),  aud  furthermore  that  he  would 
make  my  fortune.  In  the  flush  of  the  moment,  I felt  myself  fast 
becoming  a Burmese,  with  a saving  faith  in  Buddha,  and  the  royal 
umbrella  as  my  natural  inheritance.  His  Majesty  wished  to  make 
also  a commercial  treaty  with  America,  and  my  services  would  be 
indispensable.  Thus  were  alluring  nets  spread  about  my  ingenu- 
ous soul!  Still  I was  not  then  prepared  to  enter  the  King's  ser- 
vice; the  idea  was  too  novel,  the  change — from  democracy  aud 
woman  suffrage  to  despotism  and  white  elephants — too  amazing. 
‘I  must  have  time  to  consider  his  Majesty’s  gracious  offers,’  said  I 
to  the  interpreter.  ‘You  will  never  have  a better  chance,’ was 
returned  from  the  King.  Seeing  me  still  reluctant,  his  Majesty 
condescendingly  offered  to  make  me  ‘ a great  man  ’ — to  give  me 
high  rank  among  his  own  nobles  and  princes.  1 found  myself 
waxing  preternaturally  filial  and  patriotic,  and  answered  that  my 
duty  was  first  to  my  parents  and  next  to  my  own  country,  and 
that  I would  return  to  the  latter  and  consult  with  the  former,  and 
if  they  were  willing  I should  be  most  happy  to  accept  his  mag- 
nificent and  gracious  terms.  He  replied  ‘ it  might  then  be  too 
late.’  And  there  the  matter  dropped,  and  the  conversation  was 


F RANK  VINCENT,  JR. 


703 


changed  to  other  topics,  though  the  King  was  evidently  not  a 
little  vexed  at  my  obstinacy,  and  doubtless  thought  me  mad  or 
certainly  very  foolish.” 

Mr.  Vincent,  in  recently  speaking  of  his  large  experi- 
ence in  traveling  all  over  the  world,  said  : 

“I  had  rather  live  in  New  York  than  any  other  city  ; 
the  United  States,  than  any  other  nation  ; and  America, 
than  any  other  continent.  There  is  nowhere  else  such  a 
business  street  as  Broadway,  such  a palace  line  as  Fifth 
avenue,  and  such  a park  as  Central.  Our  hotels,  theatres, 
schools,  our  asylums,  hospitals  and  benevolent  institutions, 
our  elevated  railways,  fire  departments  and  seaside  resorts 
are  unparallel ed.” 

Mr.  Vincent  has  published  four  books,  “ The  Land  of 
the  White  Elephant,”  “ Through  and  Through  the  Tropic,” 
“ Norsk,  Lapp,  and  Finn,”  and  a monograph  on  “The 
Wonderful  Ruins  of  Cambodia.”  The  greater  part  of  the 
various  honors  which  have  come  to  him,  have  been  in  recog- 
nition of  his  Exploration  of  Cambodia,  and  in  his  book 
‘‘The  Land  of  the  White  Elephant,”  is  found  the  only 
complete  account  in  English  of  the  wonderful  remains  of 
antiquity  there  situated.  This  book  is  now  in  its  sixth  edi- 
tion, two  editions  have  been  published  in  London,  and  sum- 
maries have  been  issued  in  France  and  Germany. 

Mr.  Vincent  is  a son  of  a well-known  New  York  mer- 
chant * who  founded  the  extensive  dry-goods  house  of 
which  Bates,  Reed  & Cooley  are  the  present  representa- 
tives. He  is  an  old  and  intimate  friend  of  mine,  and 
takes  great  pride  in  the  enterprising  young  traveler  who 
bears  his  name. 

* Frank  Vincent,  Sr.,  Tarry  town,  N.  Y. 


XLIX. 

ROSWELL  SMITH— THE  CENTURY  CO. 


One  of  the  'projectors  of  the  “ Century” — Bold  enter- 
prise in  the  publishing  business — “ What  hath  Cod 
Wrought  !”■ — Dr.  Holland  an  experienced  Journalist — 
Great  Success  of  the  “ Century  ” — Sport  icith  Gun 
and  Bod  — President^  Secretary , Treasurer  and 
Editors. 

"O  OSWELL  SMITH,  who  was  one  of  the  original  pro- 
jectors  of  The  Century  Magazine,  and  who  has  al- 
ways directed  its  business  affairs, — first  as  publisher,  and 
now  as  President  of  The  Century  Co,— inherited  from  his 
father  a confidence  in  the  value  of  literary  property,  and 
an  instinct  for  bold  enterprise  in  the  publishing  business. 

In  1829,  his  father,  Asher  L.  Smith,  was  engaged  in 
teaching,  with  his  uncle  Roswell  C.  Smith,  in  Providence, 
Rhode  Island.  Being  dissatisfied  with  the  text  books  then 
in  use,  his  uncle  prepared  a series  of  school  books  for  his 
own  classes,  and  tested  their  usefulness  while  they  were 
still  in  manuscript.  Of  these  books  one  became  especially 
famous  as  “ Smith's  Grammar."  After  Webster's  Spelling- 
Book  it  is  believed  to  be  the  most  successful  school-book 
ever  published  in  this  country. 

Asher  Smith  was  the  first  to  recognize  the  utility  and 
commercial  value  of  his  brother's  manuscripts.  He  urged 
their  publication,  and  undertook  himself  to  guarantee  to 
the  author  $10,000  on  the  copyrights,  during  the  first  ten 
years,  after  which  time  the  brothers  were  to  share  the  prof- 
its. v 


[704] 


ROSWELL  SMITH. 


705 


Roswell  Smith  remembers  hearing  his  father  say  that 
when  the  contract  to  that  effect  was  ready  for  the  signa- 
tures, John  Whipple  of  Providence,  who  had  drawn  it  up, 
advised  him  not  to  sign  it,  adding,  “ That  is  a great  deal 
of  money  to  guarantee  for  something  which  has  no  present 
value.”  For  those  days,  it  was  a transaction  of  unusual 
daring  and  enterprise. 

Asher  Smith  took  upon  himself  the  heaviest  part  of  the 
work  of  introducing  the  books,  and  by  his  energy  contrib- 
uted to  the  success  of  his  brother’s  publishers,  Spaulding 
& Storrs,  of  Hartford. 

Afterward  the  series  was  published  by  Paine  & Bur- 
gess, of  New  York — later  Daniel  Burgess  & Co.  Mr. 
Burgess,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  Plymouth  Church,  and  an  early  and  devoted  friend  of 
Mr.  Beecher.  John  W.  Lightbody,  whom  I had  educated 
to  the  book  business  in  Auburn,  was  head  clerk  in  the 
store. 

Richard  A.  Storrs  was  a member  of  the  firm  of  Daniel 
Burgess  & Co.  from  Aug.  15,  1852,  to  May  1,  1856.  Mr. 
Storrs  has  been  the  well-known  deputy  comptroller  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  since  March,  1864,  having  previously 
been  connected  with  the  Finance  Department  from  1857. 

When  Roswell  Smith  was  fourteen  he  left  his  father’s 
farm  and  came  to  New  York,  where  he  acquired  his  first 
knowledge  of  the  publishing  business,  in  the  employ  of 
Paine  & Burgess.  After  three  years  he  returned  to  Provi- 
dence to  pursue  the  English  and  scientific  course  at  Brown 
University.  He  then  studied  law  with  Thomas  C.  Perkins, 
at  the  time  one  of  the  ablest  men  at  the  Bar,  in  Hartford. 

When  he  reached  his  majority  he  removed  to  Lafayette, 
Indiana,  and  shortly  afterward  began  to  practice  law. 
There  he  married,  in  1852,  the  only  daughter  of  Henry  L. 
Ellsworth,  the  first  Commissioner  of  Patents,  who  received 
his  appointment  from  President  Jackson,  continuing  in 
office  until  Polk’s  administration. 

The  first  patent  for  the  Morse  telegraph  was  granted 


706 


ROSWELL  SMITH. 


by  Commissioner  Ellsworth,  whose  yonng  daughter  (now 
Mrs.  Roswell  Smith)  dictated  the  first  message  sent  over 
the  perfected  Morse  telegraph.  The  message,  which  was 
suggested  by  her  mother,  was  : ‘ J What  hath  God  wrought  !” 

In  1870  Roswell  Smith,  after  visiting  Europe,  where  he 
traveled  in  company  with  Dr.  J.  G.  Holland,  took  up  his 
residence  in  New  York,  and  in  connection  with  Dr.  Hol- 
land and  the  firm  of  Charles  Scribner  & Co.,  founded 
Scribner's  Monthly , now  the  Century  Magazine. 

As  we  have  seen,  he  was  not  a novice  in  the  publishing 
business,  having  been  in  its  atmosphere  from  childhood. 

Of  course  the  new  magazine  firm  (Scribner  & Co.)  had 
the  counsel  and  help  of  all  the  partners  in  the  house  of 
Charles  Scribner  & Co.,  which  then  included  Charles 
Scribner,  Sr.,  Andrew  C.  Armstrong  and  Edward  Seymour, 
and  afterwards  their  successors,  Scribner,  Armstrong  & 
Co.  and  Charles  Scribner’s  Sons. 

But  the  controling  interest  in  the  stock  of  the  magazine 
publishing  company  was  from  the  first  held  by  Dr.  Holland 
and  Roswell  Smith.  Dr.  Holland,  an  experienced  journal- 
ist as  well  as  the  author  of  many  popular  books,  was  editor- 
in-chief,  while  Roswell  Smith  assumed  the  business  man- 
agement. His  influence  was  the  dominant  one  in  shaping 
the  business  policy  of  the  company,  and  to  this  policy 
must  be  attributed  very  much  of  its  success.  Possessed 
of  unbounded  faith,  extraordinary  energy  and  great  fertil- 
ity of  resource,  he  threw  himself  enthusiastically  into  what 
was  recognized  to  be  a difficult  venture. 

The  magazine  was  a success  from  the  first.  In  1873,  at 
his  suggestion,  the  company  began  the  publication  of  St. 
Nicholas , the  children’s  magazine,  with  Mrs.  Mary  Mapes 
Dodge  as  editor. 

In  the  face  of  the  memorable  panic  of  that  year,  fol- 
lowed by  stagnation  in  trade  all  over  the  country,  he  con- 
ceived the  policy  of  buying  up  the  numerous  other  period- 
icals for  young  people  and  consolidating  them  in  St 
Nicholas.  In  quick  succession  Our  Young  Folks  of  Bos- 


EOS  WELL  SMITH. 


707 


ton,  The  little  Corporal  of  Chicago,  The  School-day  Maga- 
zine and  Children's  Hour  of  Philadelphia,  and  several 
others  of  less  note,  were  merged  in  their  younger  rival. 

All  this  involved  the  expenditure  of  a large  sum  of 
money  at  a time  when  the  business  of  the  company  had 
hardly  begun  to  pay  a profits  and  when  the  outlook  was  ex- 
ceedingly dark  for  all  publishing  ventures,  but  the  results 
justified  his  foresight  and  his  policy.  St.  Nicholas  steadily 
grew  into  a larger  circulation  than  had  rewarded  any  of  its 
predecessors  in  the  same  field. 

After  he  had  purchased  Dr.  Holland’s  stock  in  1881,  lie 
was  offered  the  Scribner  interest  as  well.  Again,  he  did 
not  hesitate,  but  boldly  shouldered  the  whole,  notwith- 
standing the  latter  purchase  was  coupled  with  the  condi- 
tion that  the  name  of  the  company  and  of  its  principal 
magazine  should  be  changed,  and  his  most  intimate  busi- 
ness friends  were  of  the  opinion  that  no  periodical  could 
undergo  such  a change,  without  great  loss,  if  indeed  it 
should  escape  financial  wreck. 

But  the  result  again  justified  his  business  policy,  for 
the  circulation  of  the  magazine,  instead  of  falling  off, 
steadily  increased  from  the  issue  of  the  first  number  under 
the  new  name,  until  its  circulation  in  America  is  now  con- 
siderably more  than  100,000  copies,  with  an  additional  sale 
in  England  of  many  thousands.  Indeed,  the  idea  that  an 
American  periodical  could  win  a large  circulation  in  Eng- 
land originated  with  Roswell  Smith  ; at  least  he  was  the 
first  successfully  to  test  it,  when  more  than  ten  years  ago 
he  personally  arranged  for  the  sale  of  both  of  the  com- 
pany’s magazines  in  England. 

Gradually  Roswell  Smith  has  extended  the  business  of 
The  Century  Co.  in  the  line  of  special  book  publication, 
among  its  principal  works  being,  “ The  Spiritual  Songs 
Series”  of  Hymn  and  Tune  Books  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles 
S.  Robinson  of  which  more  than  three  hundred  thousand 
copies  have  been  sold,  and  “ Sport  with  Gun  and  Rod,”  a 
sumptuous  illustrated  volume,  sold  by  subscription,  which 


708 


BOSWELL  SMITH. 


has  been  a great  success,  and  bids  fair  to  become  the  stand- 
work  on  American  game.  The  book  was  compiled  and 
edited  by  Professor  Alfred  M.  Mayer,  of  Stevens  Institute. 
Among  the  contributors  is  my  amateur  sporting  friend 
Charles  E.  Whitehead,  the  well-known  author  of  “Wild 
Sports  of  the  South,”  and  translator  of  “ Gerard,  the  Lion 
Killer,”  published  by  my  firm  in  1860  ; also  A.  R.  Mac- 
donough.  Esq.,  the  honored  secretary  of  the  Century  Club, 
whose  trout-fishing  experience  and  interesting  contribu- 
tions to  magazine  literature  are  well  known.  But  the  most 
important  book  enterprise  of  the  Company  is  the  radical 
revision  of  the  English  “ Imperial  Dictionary.”  Wlien 
completed  it  will  be  practically  a new  work,  combining 
with  the  excellent  features  of  the  Imperial,  the  best  work 
of  American  scholarship,  and  thousands  of  new  words  and 
illustrations. 

The  success  of  The  Century  Co.  has  been  due  not  only 
to  Roswell  Smith  and  the  men  whose  names  have  been 
mentioned,  but  also  lo  those  whom  his  business  sagacity 
has  called  to  his  assistance  and  to  his  policy  in  pursuance 
of  whic-i  the  principal  workers  have  become  shareholders 
in  the  company.  He  has  also  inaugurated  a plan  whereby 
a portion  of  each  year's  profits  is  divided  among  all  the 
employees. 

The  present  officers  of  The  Century  Co.  are  Roswell 
Smith,  President,  Frank  H.  Scott,  Treasurer,  and  William 
W.  Ellsworth,  Secretary.  Since  the  death  of  Dr.  Holland 
in  October  1881,  Richard  Watson  Gilder,  the  well-known 
poet,  and  author  of  the  volumes  “'The  New  Day”  and 
“ The  Poet,  and  his  Master,”  has  filled  with  great  skill 
and  literary  ability  the  editorial  chair  of  the  Century 
Magazine , having  been  Dr.  Holland's  assistant  from  the 
beginning. 


L 


SOME  GENERALS  WHO  BECAME  AUTHORS. 

The  hero  of  Lundy's  Lane — Author  calls  on  the  Lieuten- 
ant General — “ How  do  you  spell  it,  sir  ?" — Interesting 
Letter  to  Thurloio  Weed — Sherman's  Army  marching 
into  Washington — The  General  salutes  Secretary  Sew- 
ard— Sherman's  “ Memoirs  written  by  himself  " — Gen- 
eral Joe  Johnston  a modest  Historian — Interesting 
letter  from  General  Sherman — “ Military  Operations 
of  General  Beauregard" — An  “ Independeiit”  opin- 
ion of  the  book — Editor  of  the  Evangelist  interviews 
General  Beauregard — “ Oh,  yes — I ''ear  of  Li — 1 spek 
of  Hm  to  BoWgar" — An  interesting  Biography — Bev. 
D.  X.  Junkin,  D.D. — A Presidential  Candidate — 
“ The  Democrats  have  made  no  Mistake  this  time  " — 
The  Battle  of  Gettysburg — “ Trust  in  God  and  fear 
nothing" 

GENERAL  WINFIELD  SCOTT,  the  hero  of  Lun- 
dy’s Lane,  was  not  only  the  author  of  the  best  treatise  on 
infantry  tactics,  at  the  time  of  their  publication,  but  he 
also  wrote  his  autobiography,  which  was  published  two 
years  before  his  death  under  the  title  of  “ Memoirs  of 
Lieut.  General  Winfield  Scott,  written  by  himself." 

It  is  an  interesting  circumstance,  as  will  be  seen  by  the 
following  letter,  that  so  long  ago  as  1865,  General  Scott 
urged  the  late  Thurlow  Weed  to  write  his  autobiography,  his 
own  having  been  published  the  year  previous,  and  in  the 
reading  of  which,  as  may  be  imagined,  Mr.  Weed, — his 
life-long  personal  and  political  friend, — was  greatly  inter- 
[7091 


710 


GENERAL  WINFIELD  SCOTT. 


ested.  Mr.  Weed’s  own  autobiography  was  published 
twenty  years  later. 

“ New  York,  April  21,  1865. 

“Dear  Sir: — I read  a little  faster  than  I recovered  vision. 
Your  very  interesting  letters  from  Europe  will  deserve  a place  in 
every  American  Library.  This  is  my  candid  judgment,  indepen- 
dent of  the  frequent  mention  in  the  book,  with  honor,  of  my 
name.  Two  paragraphs  near  the  close  of  the  book  describing 
your  first  entrance  into  New  York,  remind  me  of  Franklin’s  en- 
trance into  Philadelphia  and  excite  the  hope  that  you  may  favor 
the  world  with  a full  autobiography. 

“I  cannot  expect  to  live  long  enough  to  read  the  work,  but 
you  can  give  it  the  power  of  exciting  thousands  of  smart  boys  to 
conquer  difficulties  in  careers  of  distinguished  usefulness. 

“ With  greatest  esteem,  yours  truly, 

“ Winfield  Scott. 

“ Thurlow  Weed.’’ 

An  amusing  incident,  personal  to  myself,  occurred  in 
the  early  part  of  the  late  civil  war,  in  connection  with  Gen- 
eral Scott.  I was  entrusted  with  a dispatch  from  the  Sec- 
retary of  State  to  the  Lieutenant  General,  who  had  retired 
from  active  service,  and  was  at  that  time  a resident  of 
Elizabeth,  New  Jersey.  I was  duly  impressed,  as  a matter 
of  course,  with  the  General’s  magnificent  proportions  and 
austere  demeanor  when  ushered  into  his  presence. 

After  stating  that  I had  come  with  a special  message 
from  Mr.  Seward,  he  asked  my  name.  I told  him  it  was 
Derby.  “ How  do  you  spell  it,  sir  ?”  said  he.  I spelled  it 
the  usual  way.  He  then  said  that  my  name  was  not  Derby, 
but  that  it  was  Darby,  which,  as  we  all  know,  is  the  Eng- 
lish pronunciation  of  the  name.  I did  not  dispute  him. 

“ General  Scott,”  Mr.  Seward  once  said  in  response  to 
one  of  his  guests  who  had  mentioned  his  name,  “ was  most 
wise  and  just  in  his  conception  of  the  first  campaign  of  the 
war.  Well  would  it  have  been  for  the  country  had  his  judg- 
ment prevailed — the  war,  instead  of  lasting  five  years, 
would  have  been  confined  to  three.  But  the  * On  to  Rich- 


GENERAL  WILLIAM  TECUMSEH  SHERMAN.  711 


mond  ’ clamor  was  too  much  for  him,  as  well  as  for  the  ad- 
ministration.” 

“ At  the  final  council  before  Bull  Run,”  Mr.  Seward 
continued,  “l  was  asked  by  the  President  if  1 assented  to 
the  proposed  movement.  I said  : ‘ We  have  heard  from 
all  the  officers  present  excepting  General  Mansfield.  I 
would  like  to  hear  his  opinion/  Mansfield  agreed  substan- 
tially with  the  others  in  favor  of  the  advance.  Mr.  Lincoln 
then  turned  to  General  Scott,  who  had  been  sitting  in 
silence.  General  Scott  said  : ‘ Mr.  President,  in  view  of 
the  opinions  of  the  officers  present  and  of  the  outside  po- 
litical pressure  upon  the  administration,  I withdraw  my 
objections  to  the  advance.’” 

GENERAL  WILLIAM  TECUMSEH  SHERMAN’S 
imposing  entry  into  Washington  with  his  victorious  army, 
on  their  return  from  their  “ March  through  Georgia,”  will 
long  be  remembered  by  those  who  were  witnesses  of  that 
thrilling  event.  Happening  to  be  in  Washington  on  that 
occasion,  I accompanied  the  Secretary  of  State  from  his 
residence  to  witness  the  grand  ovation  to  the  returning 
veterans.  At  the  head  of  one  of  the  divisions  was  my  old 
time  friend  and  neighbor,  the  gallant  General  Henry  W. 
Slocum,  now  Congressman-at-Large  for  New  York  State. 

Mr.  Seward  had  recovered  sufficiently  from  his  wounds, 
on  the  23d  of  May,  to  enable  him  to  sit  at  a window  near 
Lafayette  Square  and  witness  the  grand  review  of  the  pass- 
ing column,  as  it  moved  up  the  avenue. 

General  Sherman,  at  the  head  of  the  army,  being  in- 
formed that  Mr.  Seward  was  among  the  spectators,  he  im- 
mediately rode  to  the  window  where  the  latter  was  resting, 
and  rising  in  his  stirrups  to  his  full  height,  removing  his 
hat,  saluted  the  Secretary  of  State  in  a very  profound  man- 
ner. This  mark  of  respect  to  Mr.  Seward  was  made  the 
more  significant  by  the  General’s  refusal,  a few  minutes 
later,  to  take  the  proffered  hand  of  another  member  of  the 
Cabinet. 

The  preceding  incident  is  referred  to  by  General 


712 


GENERAL  JOSEPH  E.  JOHNSTON". 


Sherman  in  his  “ Memoirs,  written  by  himself,’’  of  which 
an  account  is  given  in  another  part  of  this  volume.* 

GENERAL  JOSEPH  E.  JOHNSTON  had  on  the 
previous  month  surrendered  his  army  to  the  victorious 
Sherman,  and  on  such  terms  as  were  satisfactory  to  both 
generals,  if  not  to  the  administration  at  Washington. 

In  the  year  1873  General  Johnston  brought,  his  MS.  to 
the  house  of  D.  Appleton  & Company,  with  whom  I was 
then  connected,  for  publication.  Probably  none  of  the 
distinguished  generals  of  the  Confederate  army  was  more 
respected  than  the  author  of  this  book,— the  management 
of  the  sale  which  was  placed  in  my  hands, — the  number 
sold  reaching  many  thousand  copies. 

The  modesty  of  the  general  was  only  equalled  by  his 
bravery,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  following  preface,  the  short- 
est one  that  I have  ever  seen  published.  The  title  of  the 
book  was  “General  Joseph  E.  Johnston’s  Narrative  of 
Military  Operations  directed  during  the  Late  War  between 
the  States.” 

The  preface  reads  : “I  offer  these  pages  as  my  contri- 
bution of  materials  for  the  use  of  the  future  historian  of  the 
war  between  the  States.” 

The  above  title  page  and  preface  is  all  that  the  gallant 
Confederate  officer  had  to  say  in  introducing  his  interest- 
ing narrative  to  the  public.  Shortly  before  its  publica- 
tion I received  the  following  very  commendatory  letter 
regarding  its  publication  : 

“ Headquarters  Army  of  the  United  States,  ) 
Washington,  D.  C.,  Oct.  31,  1873.  \ 

“ Dear  Sir: 

“I  have  your  favor  of  the  30th,  repeating  what  you  said  to 
me  in  person  yesterday,  that  your  house  have  for  publication  the 
MS.  of  General  Johnston’s  narrative  of  the  military  operations  di- 
rected by  him  during  the  late. war  between  the  States.  Without 
the  least  hesitation  I advise  its  immediate  publication,  for  I be- 
lieve it  will  have  a most  extensive  sale  at  the  North  as  well  as 


* See  ante , page  184. 


GENERAL  G.  T.  BEAUREGARD. 


713 


South,  and  even  in  Europe.  Don’t  wait  for  the  slow  progress  of 
getting  subscriptions.  I know  plenty  of  men  who  would  buy  the 
book  instantly,  who  would  not  subscribe.  General  Johnston  is 
most  favorably  known  to  the  military  world,  and  is  regarded  by 
many  as  the  most  skillful  general  on  the  Southern  side.  He  is 
also  ready  with  his  pen,  and  whatever  he  records  will  receive  the 
closest  attention  by  students  of  the  art  of  war  on  this  continent, 
and  will  enter  largely  into  the  future  military  history  of  the  civil 
war. 

“ W.  T.  Sherman, 

“ General.” 

GENERAL  G.  T.  BEAUREGARD  may  properly  be 
placed  in  the  list  of  recent  authors,  for  although  the 
work  recently  published  by  Harper  & Brothers,  entitled 
“The  Military  Operations  of  General  Beauregard,  in  the 
■war  between  the  States, ” was  written  by  his  chief  of  staff, 
Major  Alfred  Roman ; most  of  it  was  dictated  and  all  in- 
dorsed by  him  as  his  own.  Having  read  the  work  in  man- 
uscript, 1 can  very  readily  concur  with  the  leading  critics, 
as  to  the  interest  and  importance  of  the  narrative,  of  which 
the  New  York  Independent  in  its  review  of  the  work,  says  : 
“ though  its  two  large  volumes  are  somewhat  appalling  to 
the  general  reader,  yet  it  is  never  dull ; and  in  the  dignity 
of  its  tone  and  the  weight  of  its  contents  it  is  superior  to 
the  Memoirs  of  Lee,  the  two  Johnstons,  Jackson,  Dick 
Taylor,  Hood,  and  other  Southern  generals,  which  they  or 
their  friends  have  written.” 

Rev.  Henry  M.  Field,  D.D.,  in  one  of  his  interesting 
letters  to  the  New  York  Evangelist , writing  from  New  Or- 
leans, the  home  of  General  Beauregard,  says  : 

“ Among  the  letters  of  introduction  given  to  me  in  Washing- 
ton by  General  Gibson,  Senator  from  Louisiana,  was  one  to  Gen- 
eral Beauregard,  who  did  me  the  honor  to  call  upon  me.  Just 
before  leaving  New  York  I had  received  from  the  Harpers  two 
octavo  volumes  containing  his  military  history,  so  that  his  story 
was  fresh  and  familiar,  and  I felt  increased  interest  in  receiving 
one  who  had  been  so  conspicuous  a figure  in  the  great  struggle. 


714 


GENERAL  G.  T.  BEAUREGARD. 


As  he  entered  the  room  I observed,  as  I thought,  a resemblance 
to  another  illustrious  Frenchman,  whom  I had  met  in  Cairo,  two 
years  before — M.  de  Lesseps.  I speak  of  General  Beauregard  as  a 
Frenchman,  for  though  a native  of  New  Orleans,  as  were  his 
father  and  grandfather  before  him,  yet  his  father  was  born  here 
when  Louisiana  belonged  to  France,  and  continued  to  live  here 
when  it  was  ceded  to  Spain,  and  when  still  later  it  was  ceded  to 
the  United  States  ; so  that,  while  living  in  one  and  the  same  city, 
he  had  lived  under  three  governments,  requiring  three  allegiances. 
In  such  changes  one  could  hardly  expect  a very  pronounced  loy- 
alty from  father  or  son.  General  Beauregard  told  me  that  he 
could  not  speak  English  till  he  wa3  twelve  years  old.  That  in  a 
civil  war  he  should  cast  his  lot  with  the  people  of  his  own  State, 
whose  language  he  spoke,  is  less  surprising  than  the  contrary 
would  have  been. 

“ It  was  a new  experience  to  find  myself  face  to  face  with  the 
man  who  had  fired  on  Fort  Sumter,  and  who  had  won  the  first 
battle  of  the  war.  As  I led  the  way  to  these  eventful  periods  of 
his  career,  of  course  not  to  provoke  controversy,  but  to  draw  him 
out,  he  spoke  of  them  not  boastfully,  but  freely.  I was  especially 
interested  to  hear  the  details  of  the  Battle  of  Bull  Run.  It  was  a 
curious  coincidence  that  the  two  commanders  in  that  battle,  Beau- 
regard and  McDowell,  had  been  classmates  at  West  Point,  and 
that,  having  been  students  in  the  art  of  war,  in  the  same  military 
school,  under  the  same  teachers,  were  now  to  be  pitted  against 
each  other  in  the  field.  To  my  remark  that  military  authorities 
had  said  that  McDowell’s  dispositions  for  the  battle  were  excel- 
lent, but  were  defeated  by  those  unexpected  and  inexplicable 
complications  which  often  defeat  the  best  plans  in  war,  he  an- 
swered that  ‘ his  fatal  mistake  was  in  not  attacking  the  force  the 
first  day;’  that  he  was  then  greatly  superior  in  force,  and  that  if 
he  had  attacked  then,  he  (McDowell)  would  have  smashed  him  ! 
But  the  delay  of  two  or  three  days  gave  him  time  to  bring  ten 
thousand  men  from  Richmond,  and  other  reinforcements  from  the 
army  of  Jo.  Johnston,  so  that  he  was  able  to  take  the  offensive. 

“ He  described  very  vividly  the  crisis  of  the  battle,  when  the 
latter  force  was  coming  on  the  ground.  He  saw  a movement  in 
the  distance  of  troops  approaching,  but  could  not  at  first  tell 
whether  they  were  friends  or  foes.  The  flag  then  used  by  the 
Confederates  differed  but  little  from  that  of  the  Union;  it  was  not 


GENERAL  WINFIELD  SCOTT  HANCOCK. 


715 


easy  to  distinguish  the  stars  and  bars  from  the  stars  and  stripes. 
It  was  a hot  day  in  July,  and  the  flag  hung  by  the  staff.  For  a 
few  minutes  he  was  in  intense  anxiety.  At  length  a light  breeze 
caused  the  drooping  ensign  to  unroll,  and  as  it  was  flung  out  by 
the  wind  he  recognized  the  flag  of  the  Confederacy,  and  instantly 
despatched  his  officers  in  every  direction  to  order  a general  ad- 
vance, and  the  day  was  won.” 


Referring  to  General  Beauregard's  well-known  reputa- 
tion as  a leader,  especially  among  his  own  people,  reminds 
me  of  the  following  anecdote  which  well  illustrates 
Creole  characteristics  so  faithfully  portrayed  by  George 
W.  Cable. — “The  ‘ late  unpleasantness'  was  under  dis- 
cussion between  three  Louisiana  Frenchmen  and  a Vir- 
ginian, and  the  Creoles,  with  that  idol-worshipping  of  local 
greatness  peculiar  to  the  South,  were  speaking  of  Beaure- 
gard as  if  he  had  been  the  great  central  figure  of  the  war. 
It  was  ‘ Bo’rgar ' this  and  ‘Bo'rgar'  that,  until  the  Vir- 
ginian's breath  was  taken  away. 

“‘What  'bout  Robert  E.  Lee?'  he  finally  gasped. 
4 Wasn't  he  round  thar  summers  'bout  that  time  ? ' 

“ ‘Li  ?'  said  a little  Creole,  inquiringly.  ‘Never  'eard 
of  'im.  Alphonse,  you  ever  'ear  of  Li  ?' 

“ ‘Nevare,'  from  Alphonse. 

“ The  Virginian  turned  in  despair  to  the  third  Creole  : 

“ ‘And  you,  sir  ?' 

“ ‘ Oh,  yez — I 'ear  of  Li — I spek  of  'im  to  Bo'rgar — 
Bo'rgar  tink  very  'ighly  of  'im.'  " 

GENERAL  WINFIELD  SCOTT  HANCOCK,  al- 
though not  the  author  of  any  hook,  he  has  been  the  subject 
of  a very  interesting  biographical  work. 

Soon  after  the  nomination  of  General  Hancock  for  the 
Presidency  by  the  Democratic  party,  I waited  upon  that 
distinguished  military  hero  with  the  following  note  from 
his  personal  and  political  friend,  the  senior  member  of  the 
house  of  D.  Appleton  & Co.  : 


716  GENERAL  WINFIELD  SCOTT  HANCOCK. 


“July  7,  1880. 

“My  Dear  General  : 

“ Allow  me  to  introduce  to  you  Mr.  Derby,  who  will  look  over 
the  MS.  to  which  you  refer  in  your  note  of  3d. 

“Mr.  Derby  has  great  experience  in  such  matters. 

“Very  truly, 

“ W.  H.  Appleton.” 

General  Hancock  received  me  very  courteously,  and 
after  talking  over  the  object  of  my  visit,  referred  me  to  the 
family  of  Rev.  Dr.  Junkin,  they  having  in  their  possession 
the  manuscript  biography  which  had  been  prepared  some 
months  previous  to  the  latter’s  death. 

I immediately  went  to  Newcastle,  Pa.,  where  Mrs. 
Junkin  then  resided,  and  learned  that  her  husband  had 
left  in  manuscript  an  elaborate  and  extended  account  of  the 
life  and  public  services  of  his  hero  and  political  idol,  Win  - 
field Scott  Hancock. 

Rev.  D.  X.  Junkin,  D.D.,  was  engaged  during  many 
years  in  the  preparation  of — what  was  to  him  a labor  of 
love — the  life  of  his  hero.  Esteeming  General  Hancock 
above  all  other  men,  he  confidently  believed,  up  to  the 
day  of  his  death,  that  the  American  people  would  event- 
ually pay  just  tribute  to  the  statesman-like  qualities,  the 
stanch  integrity,  the  magnanimity,  and  the  patriotism  of 
his  hero,  by  elevating  him  to  the  highest  executive  position 
within  their  gift. 

Having  arranged  for  the  manuscript,  we  engaged  Mr. 
Frank  H.  Norton,  a literary  gentleman  who  was  well  qual- 
ified, to  prepare  the  matter  in  a proper  form  for  publication 
as  a campaign  volume. 

Mr.  Norton,  on  completing  the  work,  said  in  his  pre- 
face : 

“ General  Hancock’s  single-minded  patriotism,  his  deep  sense 
of  the  duty  of  man  to  his  brother  man,  his  contempt  for  the  em- 
ployment of  narrow,  vicious,  and  degraded  methods  to  sustain 
selfishness  and  illegitimate  ambition,  his  remarkably  acute  and 
just  perceptions  of  the  relations  of  things,  his  comprehensive 


GENERAL  WINFIELD  SCOTT  HANCOCK.  717 

accumulation  of  knowledge,  and  the  natural  wisdom  which  has 
rendered  his  ability  and  his  knowledge  valuable  to  his  fellow- 
countrymen — these  are  some  of  the  qualities  and  characteristics 
which  have  been  made  prominent  in  the  acts  and  life  of  General 
Hancock,  and  which  this  biography  has  sought  to  render  evident.” 

The  general,  as  we  all  know,  was  not  elected.  His 
defeat  was  quite  unexpected  to  his  friends,  some  of  whom 
think  that  he,  like  Henry  Clay,  wrote  one  too  many 
letters  ; while  others  attribute  it  to  the  treachery  of  a fac- 
tion of  the  Democratic  party.  No  Presidential  candidate 
— and  I have  been  a voter  at  the  last  ten  Presidential  elec- 
tions— has  ever  been  so  free  from  partisan  attacks,  for  the 
reason  that  his  record  was  wholly  unassailable. 

Shortly  before  the  election  General  Sherman  said  of 
him,  “If  you  will  sit  down  and  write  the  best  thing  that 
can  be  put  in  language  about  General  Hancock  as  an  officer 
and  a gentleman,  I will  sign  it  without  hesitation. ” 
General  Sheridan  also  said  of  him,  “ I am  not  in  politics, 
but  General  Hancock  is  a good  and  great  man.  The 
Democrats  have  not  made  a mistake  this  time.  They  have 
nominated  an  excellent  and  strong  ticket/’ 

It  is  well-known  in  military  circles  that  General  Han- 
cock selected  the  historic  site  of  the  great  and  decisive 
battle  of  Gettysburg,  where  he  was  severely  wounded  in 
action. 

On  July  1,  1863,  the  first  day  of  the  battle  of  Gettys- 
burg, he  was  sent  by  General  Meade  to  decide  whether  a 
decisive  battle  should  be  given  there,  or  whether  the  army 
should  fall  back.  He  reported  that  Gettysburg  was  the 
place  to  fight,  and  took  immediate  command  until  the 
arrival  of  General  Meade. 

An  interesting  incident  in  connection  with  General 
Armistead's  defection  from  the  United  States  army,  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  Rebellion,  is  related  by  General  Hancock. 
It  occurred  at  Los  Angeles  early  in  1861.  Armistead  was 
there  with  Hancock,  a captain  and  brevet-major.  Yir- 


718  GENERAL  WINFIELD  SCOTT  HANCOCK. 


ginia,  his  native  State,  called  upon  him  to  support  her 
cause,  and,  under  the  influence  of  this  demand,  he  sided 
with  the  Confederates.  On  leaving  Los  Angeles  he  pre- 
sented General  Hancock  with  his  major’s  uniform,  saying 
that  the  latter  “ might  some  time  need  it.”  He  also  placed 
in  his  hands  for  safe  keeping,  and  to  be  given  to  his  family, 
if  he  should  fall  in  battle,  certain  valuable  private  papers. 
These  General  Hancock  sent  to  General  Armistead’s  sister 
(who  had  married  a Union  officer)  at  the  close  of  the  war. 
Armistead  also  presented  to  Hancock  a little  prayer-book, 
which  is  still  in  the  latter’s  possession.  On  a fly-leaf  of  the 
book  is  the  following  inscription  : — te  Lewis  A.  Armistead. 
Trust  in  God,  and  fear  nothing.”  It  may  be  observed  by 
the  way,  that  General  Hancock  never  needed  the  major’s 
uniform, — he  skipped  the  grades  from  captain  to  brigadier- 
general. 

I occasionally  saw  General  Hancock  at  Governor’s 
Island,  after  the  publication  of  his  book,  and  also  after  the 
election.  The  Democratic  candidate  did  not  take  his  defeat 
so  much  to  heart  as  did  his  devoted  and  enthusiastic 
friends. 

Talking  with  him  one  day  on  the  subject  of  Presiden- 
tial defeats,  I mentioned  the  fact,  that  both  General  Jack- 
son  and  General  Harrison  were  defeated  the  first  time  they 
ran  for  President.  The  General  laughed  at  the  coincidence, 
which  had  escaped  his  memory,  and  replied  that  he  was 
“ very  well  satisfied  in  his  present  position.”  Surely,  it  is 
an  exalted  one,  which  in  the  public  estimation  is  both  ad- 
mirably and  satisfactorily  filled  by  the  present  incumbent. 


LI. 

CONCLUSION. 

My  Publishers’  Reminder — T.  3.  Arthur — Anna  C.  Botta 
— Laura  C.  Holloway — Rossiter  Johnson — Richard  B. 
Kimball — Albert  Mathews — 0.  J.  Victor — Metta  Vic- 
toria Victor — Professor  0.  W.  Wight — Emma  De 
Long — Barry  Gray — Curtis  Guild — Jane  Crawford 
Campbell — Ann  3.  Stephens — A.  3.  Roe — John  Sav- 
age— Charles  Nordhojf — General  A.  3.  Webb — Mar- 
garet J.  Preston — Madame  A.  de  Chaudron — Maria 
Darrington  Deslonde — Mary  E.  Bryan — Henry  Wat- 
terson — R.  M.  Johnston — Madame  Le  Vert. — A.  J.  Re- 
quier — IJ.  L.  Flash — Paul  H.  Payne. — Gail  Hamilton. 

1MTY  publishers  have  more  than  once  reminded  me  that  the 
dimensions  of  this  volume,  as  originally  contemplated, 
were  being  greatly  augmented.  I therefore  must  bring  the 
record  of  these  recollections  to  a close.  I cannot  do  so, 
however,  without  briefiy  recalling  the  names  of  a few  more 
friends,  for  most  of  whom  I was  at  one  time  the  publisher. 

Mr.  T.  S.  ARTHUR,  next  to  Peter  Parley,  is  the  most 
voluminous  writer  of  books  in  this  country.  His  “Hand 
but  not  Heart/’  issued  by  Derby  & Jackson  in  1857,  was 
a marked  success.  The  many  stories  and  tales  of  which  he 
is  the  author,  are  written  in  the  interest  of  purity,  good 
morals,  and  reform,  and  especially  those  which  were  writ- 
ten in  the  cause  of  the  temperance,  have  been  productive 
of  immense  good.  His  “Ten  Nights  in  a Bar-room,”  sold 
over  100,000  copies. 

MRS.  ANNA  C.  BOTTA’S  “Hand-Book  of  Uni- 
versal Literature/’  was  first  published  in  1860.  A new 
and  enlarged  edition  is  now  in  the  press  of  Houghton, 

[719] 


720 


MR.  ALBERT  MATHEWS. 


Mifflin  & Co.  Mrs.  Botta  says  in  her  preface  : “ This 
work  was  begun  many  years  ago,  as  a literary  exercise,  to 
meet  the  personal  requirements  of  the  writer,  which  were 
such  as  most  persons  experience  on  leaving  school,  and 
4 completing  their  education/  as  the  phrase  is.”  As  I hap- 
pen to  know,  this  excellent  and  useful  manual  has  been  and 
is  of  the  utmost  service  to  all  students  of  literature.  A 
beautiful  illustrated  edition  of  Mrs.  Botta's  poems  was  pub- 
lished in  1848. 

MRS.  LAURA  C.  HALLO  WAY,  who  has  been  so  long 
connected  with  the  literary  department  of  the  Brooklyn 
Eagle,  is  the  author  of  a large  illustrated  volume  entitled 
“ The  Ladies  of  the  White  House,”  which  has  passed 
through  several  editions.  Her  latest  work,  “ The  Mothers 
of  Great  Men  and  Women,”  an  interesting  illustrated  vol- 
ume, has  recently  been  issued  by  the  same  publishers. 

MR.  ROSSITER  JOHNSON,  is  a well  known  littera- 
teur, and  an  author  of  excellent  repute.  He  did  good  ser- 
vice in  connection  with  his  collaborator,  J.  D.  Champlin, 
Jr.,  in  that  best  of  all  literary  schools,  a writer  for  the 
American  Cyclopedia.  He  is  the  successor  of  the  late 
Judge  Tenney,  as  editor  of  the  Annual  Cyclopedia. 

Mr.  Johnson  is  also  the  editor  of  the  famous  “ Little 
Classic  Series,”  issued  from  the  Riverside  Press.  The  wife 
of  Mr.  Johnson  (Mrs.  Helen  K.)  is  the  editor  of  the  excel- 
lent musical  volume,  entitled  “Our  Familiar  Songs,”  and 
also  of  the  delightful  Rhodv  series  of  juvenile  books. 

RICHARD  B.  KIMBALL  is  best  known  as  the  writer 
of  that  famous  novel  “ Saint  Leger ; or,  The  Threads 
of  Life,”  although  he  is  author  of  several  well  known  books 
notably  “The  Romance  of  the  Student's  Life.”  A new  edi- 
tion of  the  former  has  recently  been  issued  by  his  present 
publishers,  G.  W.  Carleton  & Co. 

MR.  ALBERT  MATHEWS,  distinguished  as  a lawyer 
and  man  of  letters,  is  the  author  of  a series  of  papers, 
which  he  published  in  the  Knickerbocker  Magazine  thirty 
years  ago,  under  the  title  of  “Schediasms”  and  over  the 


MRS.  METTA  VICTORIA  VICTOR. 


721 


nom-de-plume  of  “Paul  Siegvollc.”  In  1859  under  the 
same  nom-de-plume , he  published  what  has  well  been  called 
a prose  poem,  entitled,  “ Walter  Ashwood — A Love  Story,” 
issued  by  Rudd  & Carleton.  In  1879,  still  under  the  same 
nom-de-plum,e , he  published,  through  G.  P.  Putnam’s  Sons, 
a volume  of  Essays,  Tales  and  Sketches,  entitled  “A  Bun- 
dle of  Papers.”  Referring  to  the  essay,  “ Is  he  a Gentle- 
man ?”  in  the  latter  volume,  an  eminent  literary  friend 
writes  me,  “ It  is  worthy  of  Montaigne  himself ; nothing  so 
full,  so  penetrative  and  fine,  has  been  written  upon  the  sub- 
ject since  the  old  days  of  chivalry,”  in  which  opinion  I 
fully  concur. 

MR.  and  MRS.  0.  J.  VICTOR  have  already  been  re- 
ferred to  in  these  pages.  Both  of  them  have  been  devoted 
to  literature  all  their  lives,  and  in  this  calling  they  have 
been  successful. 

Mr.  Victor  is  the  author  of  several  valuable  works,  the 
most  important  of  which,  is  the  comprehensive  and  elabo- 
rate history  of  the  Civil  War,  published  in  four  large  illus- 
trated volumes,  under  the  general  title  of  IUstorjr,  Civil, 
Political,  Military  and  Financial  of  the  Southern  Rebellion. 
Mr.  Greeley  in  his  “ Great  American  Conflict,”  acknowl- 
edges his  “ great  indebtedness  ” for  much  material  from 
Mr.  Victor’s  “ admirable  work.” 

MRS.  METTA  VICTORIA  VICTOR  is  the  author  of 
several  volumes,  covering  the  field  of  poetry,  humor  and 
fiction. 

Mrs.  Victor’s  first  volume  was  written  when  she  was  but 
fifteen  years  old,  and  published  by  George  H.  Derby  of 
Buffalo,  under  the  title  of  “ Western  Leaves  from  Western 
Wilds.”  Her  first  successful  effort,  a temperance  story, 
was  entitled  “The  Senator’s  Son,  a Plea  for  the  Maine 
Law,”  which  had  an  enormous  sale.  Her  humorous  volume, 
“Mrs.  Slimmens’  Window”  proved  a decided  hit,  and  her 
“Dead  Letter,”  romance  (written  under  the  pseudonym 
of  Seeley  Regester),  is  believed  to  be  one  of  the  most  largely 
circulated  American  novels — second  only  to  Uncle  Toni’s 


722 


R.  B.  COFFIN. 


Cabin.  It  was  first  published  as  a magazine  serial ; then 
in  a beautifully  illustrated  duodecimo,  next  in  an  octavo 
volume.  It  was  also  republished  in  England  by  Cassel 
& Co. 

PROFESSOR  0.  W.  WIGHT,  already  referred  to  as 
the  early  friend  of  the  Cary  Sisters,  and  the  editor  of  the 
French  Classics,  was  also  the  translator  of  Cousin’s  Works, 
and  the  editor  of  Sir  William  Hamilton’s  Metaphysical 
Works,  both  of  which  are  among  the  standard  publications 
of  D.  Appleton  & Co. 

Professor  Wight’s  industry  and  learning  are  very  great 
and  in  many  different  fields  of  literature.  It  is  probable 
that  he  will  soon  be  heard  from  again  in  an  important 
literary  undertaking. 

MR.  HORACE  E.  SCTTDDER,  a well  known  li tterateur, 
now  connected  with  the  house  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  & Co., 
is  best  known  as  the  author  of  the  celebrated  Bodley  Sto- 
ries for  Children.  Mr.  Scudder  is  also  well  known  for  his 
ability  to  arrange  and  edit  manuscripts  before  they  go  to  the 
printer ; in  some  instances,  to  my  knowledge,  this  requires 
as  much  time,  and  more  ability  than  that  displayed  by  the 
ostensible  author. 

MRS.  EMMA  DE  LONG,  wife  of  Lieut.  Commander 
De  Long,  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  editing  with  a 
biographical  sketch  of  the  lost  explorer,  the  two  illustrated 
volumes  resently  published  by  Houghton,  Mifflin  & Co., 
under  the  title  “ The  Voyage  of  the  Jeannette.”  It  was 
my  good  fortune  to  arrange  with  this  esteemed  lady  for  the 
publication  of  these  now  historic  volumes,  and  I know 
something  of  her  intense  devotion  to  the  memory  of  her 
heroic  husband,  whose  romantic  but  ill-fated  career  so  pre- 
maturely terminated  their  earthly  hopes. 

R.  B.  COFFIN,  who  is  well  known  under  the  pseudo- 
nym of  “ Barry  Gray,”  has  written  some  charming  volumes, 
the  most  popular  of  which,  “ Marriage  Infelicities,”  has  gone 
through  several  editions.  Some  of  his  descriptions  of 


MRS.  ANN"  S.  STEPHENS. 


723 


country  life  would  be  no  discredit  to  the  author  of  the 
“ Sparrow  grass  Papers.” 

MR.  CURTIS  GUILT),  although  best  known  as  the 
founder  of  that  influential  and  successful  organ,  the  Boston 
Commercial  Bulletin , is  also  the  author  of  a popular  illus- 
trated book  of  travels  entitled  “Over  the  Ocean.”  Mr. 
Guild  has  succeeded  in  his  original  plan  in  making  a com- 
mercial organ  interesting  to  the  literary  world. 

MRS.  JANE  CRAWFORD  CAMPBELL,  the  authoress 
of  “The  Money-Maker  and  other  Stories,”  which  volume 
was  published  by  my  firm  thirty  years  ago,  was  introduced 
to  me  by  the  late  H.  T.  Tuckerman.  She  was  the  sister  of 
Thomas  Crawford,  the  eminent  sculptor,  who  was  the  father 
of  the  now  famous  novelist  E.  Marion  Crawford.  -It  will 
thus  be  seen  that  the  author  of  “Mr.  Isaacs”  and  the 
“ Roman  Singer,”  inherits  his  fine  literary  gifts  from  both 
his  father  and  his  mother’s  family,  as  he  is  also  the  nephew 
of  Julia  Ward  Howe,  the  poetess,  whose  “Battle  Hymn  of 
the  Republic,”  has  immortalized  her  name. 

MRS.  ANN  S.  STEPHENS  first  came  before  the  literary 
world  more  than  forty  years  ago  as  the  winner  of  a prize 
story,  for  which  she  received  four  hundred  dollars.  She 
next  made  a decided  hit  in  her  very  popular  novel,  entitled 
“ Fashion  and  Famine,”  which  was  published  by  the  then 
young  firm  of  Bunce  & Brother — thirty  years  ago.  Since 
that  time  Mrs.  Stephens  has  written  a great  mauy  novels, 
some  of  which  have  met  with  immense  sales.  One  of  her 
best  novels  is  her  latest,  entitled  “ Phemie  Frost,”  recently 
published  by  G.  W.  Carleton  & Co. 

In  1855,  I published  the  first  of  Mr.  A.  S.  Roe’s  novels, 
which  was  called  “ A Long  Look  Ahead,”  followed  in  suc- 
cessive years  by  “ I’ve  Been  Thinking,”  “ To  Love  and  to 
be  Loved,”  “True  to  the  Last,”  “The  Star  and  the 
Cloud,” and  “How  Could  he  Help  it  ?” 

The  books  were  as  taking  as  their  titles.  I believe 
more  than  100,000  volumes  have  been  sold  since  Mr.  Carle- 
ton  became  their  publisher,  in  1881. 


724 


MARGARET  J.  PRESTON. 


Mr.  Roe’s  novels  were  not  only  healthful  and  interest- 
ing but  good  and  safe  reading  for  the  family. 

MR.  JOHN  SAVAGE,  of  whom  reference  has  already 
been  made  in  these  pages,  is  well-known  in  the  literary 
world  as  a poet,  dramatist  and  biographer.  His  first 
volume,  “ Songs  of  Fatherland,”  was  published  by  Red- 
field,  in  1850,  and  followed  by  the  “ History  and  Literature 
of  Ireland”  in  1856.  Mr.  George  W.  Childs  published  his 
next  volume,  entitled  “ Our  Living  Representative  Men,” 
and  in  1865,  Derby  & Miller  published  his  authorized 
“ Life  of  Andrew  Johnson.” 

MR.  CHARLES  NORDHOFF,  long  and  favorably 
known  as  an  editorial  writer  in  the  columns  of  the  New 
York  Evening  Post  and  New  York  Herald , is  the  author  of 
several  interesting  volumes  of  travel  and  history.  His  sea 
tales  for  the  young  are  told  with  much  spirit,  and  his 
“ Politics  for  Young  Americans  ” is  a safe  guide  in  the 
hands  of  our  young  people  of  both  sexes. 

GENERAL  ALEXANDER  S.  WEBB,  LL.D.,  Presi- 
dent of  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  whose  career 
as  a scholar  in  civil  life  is  only  equalled  by  his  bravery  as  a 
soldier  in  military  life,  is  the  author  of  the  interesting 
volume  “McClellan’s  Campaign  of  1862,”  recently  published 
by  Charles  Scribner’s  Sons.  General  Webb,  it  will  be  re- 
membered, was  severely  wounded  in  several  sanguinary 
ennagements.  At  Gettysburg  eight  of  the  non-commis- 
sioned officers  of  his  regiment  were  killed,  and  the  general 
himself  at  the  time  supposed  to  have  been  mortally 
wounded. 

MARGARET  J.  PRESTON’S  first  published  vol- 
ume was  issued  by  my  firm  in  1856.  It  was  a quiet  and 
dreamy  narrative  entitled  “ Silvervvood,”  a book  of  tender 
memories,  through  which  run  a thread  of  fiction.  Mrs. 
Preston  was  the  daughter  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  George  Jun- 
kin,  himself  an  author  of  repute  ; her  sister  married  the 
Confederate  chieftain,  Stonewall  Jackson.  Mrs.  Preston 
has  become  distinguished  by  her  poetical  writings,  which 


MR.  HENRY  WATTERSON. 


725 


are  much  in  demand  by  the  leading  literary  journals  of  the 
day. 

MADAME  A.  DE  CHAUDRON  of  Mobile,  Ala.,  has 
the  honor  of  first  introducing  the  famous  Madame  Muhl- 
bacli  to  English  readers.  She  was  the  translator  of  that 
celebrated  author's  “Joseph  the  Second,”  an  account  of 
which  is  given  elsewhere.  Madame  do  Chaudron  was  also 
the  translator  of  a lively  French  novel  published  by  Mr. 
Carleton,  under  the  attractive  title  “Mademoiselle  Fifty 
Millions.” 

MARIA  D ARRINGTON  DESLONDE,  of  New  Orleans, 
La.,  and  a near  relative  of  General  Beauregard,  is  the  author 
of  two  excellent  novels  entitled,  respectively,  “The  Miller 
of  Silcott  Mills,”  and  “John  Marabel.”  The  former  was 
read  in  MS.  to  the  late  Commodore  Vanderbilt,  one  sum- 
mer at  Saratoga,  who  became  very  much  interested  in  the 
entertaining  story,  a fact  which  the  wide-awake  publisher 
(Mr.  Carleton),  became  cognizant  of,  and  speedily  pub- 
lished the  book.  The  authoress  honored  me  by  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  latter  novel. 

MRS.  MARY  E BRYAN,  the  present  editor  of  the 
Sunny  South,  a literary  paper  published  in  Atlanta,  Geor- 
gia, as  stated  elsewhere,  was  a literary  protege  of  the  late 
Alexander  H.  Stephens.  It  was  through  his  kind  atten- 
tion and  influence  that  her  celebrated  novel  “ Manch  ” was 
published  by  the  house  of  D.  Appleton  & Co.,  a very  cred- 
itable production,  which  was  very  well  received  by  the 
critics,  meeting  with  a generous  reception  among  novel- 
readers,  especially  in  the  Southern  States,  where  the  author 
is  so  well  and  favorably  known. 

Mrs.  Bryan  began  writing  for  the  press  when  but  seven- 
teen years  old,  and  has  written  some  very  beautiful  poetry, 
her  verses  being  extensively  copied  in  the  newspaper  press. 

MR.  HENRY  WATTERSON,  the  brilliant  and  versa- 
tile editor  of  the  Louisville  Courier  Journal,  says  in  his 
clever  volume,  “ Oddities  of  Southern  Life  and  Character,” 
recently  published : “ Why  it  is  I know  not,  but  certain  it 


726  MADAME  OCTAYIA  WALTON  LE  VERT. 


is  that  Georgia,  which  is  made  the  scene  of  so  much  of  the 
humor  of  the  South,  has  furnished  a very  large  proportion 
of  the  humorists  themselves.  The  author  of  6 Dukes- 
borough  Tales 5 is  a native  Georgian,  and,  although  he  is 
but  just  coming  into  the  general  notice  of  the  public,  that 
original  volume  made  its  appearance  nearly  ten  years  ago. 
It  deserved  prompter  and  more  cordial  recognition.  The 
sketches  of  which  it  is  composed  are  redolent  of  the  rusti- 
city of  the  South.” 

RICHARD  MALCOLM  JOHNSTON,  the  author  above 
referred  to,  is,  without  doubt,  one  of  the  most  original  and 
successful  of  Southern  writers;  his  “Mark  Langston,  a 
Tale  of  Duke’s  Creek,”  recently  published  by  Harper  & 
Brothers,  has  proved  a decided  hit  in  the  line  of  dialect 
stories,  of  which  the  New  York  Tribune  says  : “ His 
book  is  a genuine  piece  of  literature,  one  which  preserves 
to  us  a unique  chronicle  of  times  and  characters  which  are 
no  more,  and  one  which  will  be  remembered,  when  far 
more  pretentious  novels  are  forgotten.” 

MADAME  OCTAVIA  WALTON  LE  VERT,  was  at 
one  time  one  of  the  most  widely  and  pleasantly  known, 
among  the  literary  women  of  the  South.  My  firm  became 
the  publisher  of  her  entertaining  book  “ Souvenirs  of 
Travel,”  in  1859. 

It  is  a curious  and  interesting  incident,  that  Lamartine 
not  only  first  suggested  the  idea  of  Madame  Le  Vert’s  book 
but  also  gave  it  its  title.  On  one  occasion  he  said  to  her  : 

“Madame,  you  have  one  gift  of  which  you  yourself  are  una- 
ware. You  are  a natural  improvisatrice.  Now,  because  you  are 
not  an  Italian,  you  cannot  be  an  improvisatrice , but  you  can  be  a 
writer  ; you  can  fill  with  pleasure  the  hearts  of  your  nation  by 
describing  what  you  have  seen,  to  them,  as  you  are  now  delight- 
ing one.  When  the  excitements  of  your  tour  are  over,  and  you 
are  once  more  quietly  at  home,  will  you  not  remember,  Madame, 
what  I have  said,  and  employ  your  leisure  in  giving  to  the  world  a 
few  souvenirs  of  your  European  Life  ? 


MR.  J.  WOOD  DAVIDSON. 


727 


Madame  Le  Vert's  pleasant  home  in  Mobile,  in  ante- 
bellum times,  will  long  be  remembered  as  a most  delight- 
ful resort  for  people  of  refined  tastes,  and  especially  to 
Northerners,  who  visited  that  city  in  the  prosperous  and 
happy  days  which  then  were  hers. 

MR.  A.  J.  REQUIER,  a native  of  Charleston,  S.  0.,  but 
for  fifteen  years  a resident  of  Mobile,  Ala.,  has  distinguished 
himself  as  a poet ; a volume  of  his  poems  was  published  by 
J.  B.  Lippincott  & Co.,  in  1859. 

Soon  after  the  war,  Judge  Requier  moved  to  New  York, 
where  he  has  been  prominent  in  his  profession  of  law,  and 
in  judicial  circles. 

MR.  HENRY  LYNDON  FLASH,  of  New  Orleans,  La., 
or  Harry  Flash,  as  he  was  called  by  his  admirers,  when  a resi- 
dent of  Mobile  in  ante-bellum  times,  published,  in  1860,  a 
volume  of  exquisite  poetry.  The  breaking  out  of  the  war 
disturbed  his  poetical  dreams,  and  when  it  was  over,  Mr. 
Flash  took  to  “the  sugar  trade  and  cotton  line,”  in  which 
he  finds  more  prose  than  poetry,  and  a good  deal  more 
cash.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  he  will  again  be  heard  from 
as  a votary  of  the  Muses. 

PAUL  H.  H AYNE  stands  at  the  head  of  the  Southern 
poets.  He  is  the  author  of  several  volumes  of  genuine 
poetry,  the  last  of  which  is  an  elegant  illustrated  volume  of 
his  poems,  which  was  published,  in  1883,  by  D.  Lathrop  & 
Co.,  of  Boston.  Mr.  Hayne’s  poems,  especially  his  sonnets, 
are  very  popular.  He  is  a constant  contributor  to  the  lead- 
ing literary  journals  and  magazines. 

MR.  J.  WOOD  DAVIDSON,  himself  a poet,  and  a 
critic  among  the  poets,  says  in  his  “Living  Writers  of  the 
South,”  “ Mr.  Hayne  has  an  intense  love  of  nature,  a rich 
imagination,  quick  and  bold,  a limited  power  of  narrative 
structure,  and  a true  sense  of  the  beauty  of  words.  His 
poetry  is  alive  with  pent  passion,  glowing,  yet  unexpressed, 
a tropical  wealth  of  emotion,  touched  here  and  there  with 
a dash  of  quaintness,  or  a flow  of  affection.” 


728 


GAIL  HAMILTON. 


In  conclusion,  it  affords  me  pleasure  to  acknowledge 
the  cordial  co-operation  of  the  subjects  of  these  sketches, 
or  their  representatives,  by  rendering  such  aid  as  was  both 
proper  and  possible,  during  the  preparation  of  this  vol- 
ume. The  following  characteristic  letter  explains  the 
absence  of  any  sketch  of  its  writer,  who  may  well  be 
classed  among  our  most  distinguished  authors. 

“July  22,  1884. 

“My  dear  Mr.  Derby  : 

“*******  My  instinct  has  always  been 
that  the  biography  of  the  living  should  never  be  written.  If  you 
will  only  have  a little  patience  till  we  are  dead,  you  will  find  that 
you  won’t  wish  to  write  it!  Undoubtedly  and  properly,  we  all 
think  seas  and  mountains  of  ourselves  now,  and  as  for  you,  you 
cannot  possibly  think  too  great  things  of  us,  but  I expect  we 
shall  be  surprised  to  see  how  promptly  it  will  be  out  of  sight, 
out  of  mind,  with  the  most  of  us.  Of  course  I cannot  argue 
this  too  strenuously,  because  you  yourself  have  been  strenuously 
committing  this  very  sin — two  hundred  of  them  in  fact,  according 
to  advertisement — and  I suppose  every  soul  of  them  all  is  consent- 
ing unto  his  own  death — but  you  at  least  agree  with  me  so  far  as 
to  admit  that  the  life  should  not  be  taken  without  Saul’s  consent. 
Practically,  therefore,  we  are  at  one,  for  my  soul  will  not  spare  for 
your  crying  ! (I  know  you  will  get  my  souls  and  my  Sauls  all 
mixed  up.  Read  your  Bible,  young  man!) 

“Be  comforted  and  taunt  me,  that  with  your  array  of  names 
mine  will  never  be  missed,  and  if  by  any  chance  it  should  be,  you 
have  what,  however  poor,  is  the  best  authority  in  the  world  for 
its  absence. 

“ You  have  been  so  uniformly  gentle  and  obliging  that  I think 
I may  count  upon  you  to  carry  out  my  wishes  in  this  respect — and 
if  you  should  beg  me  to  reward  you  for  your  friendly  desire  to  pin 
me  alive,  with  the  other  Ephemera,  to  a cabinet  immortality,  by 
blowing  your  book  sky-high  when  it  does  come  out,  why,  blow 
bellows,  blow,  set  the  wild  echoes  flying  ! 

“Always  most  truly, 

“Gail  Hamilton.” 


INDEX 


Abbott  Brothers,  656 
Abbott,  John  S.  C.  123 
Adams,  Charles  Fran- 
cis, 60,  76,  77,  278 
Adams,  J.  S.&C.377 
Adams,  John,  675 
Adams,  John  Quincy, 
29,  59,  60,  120,  122, 
501,  502 

Adams,  Joseph  A.  686 
Adams,  Rev.  N.  701 
Adams,  Rev.  W.  35 
Addison,  J.  34,  151 
Agassiz,  Louis,  118 
Agnew,  D.  H.  385 
Alcott,  Louise  M.  285 
Alden,  II.  M.  105,  629 
Alden.  Rev.  J.  163 
Aldrich,  James,  231 
Aldrich,  Thomas  Bai- 
ley, 34,  35,  222,  227- 
234,  239,  251,  603 
Alexander,  G.  W.  572 
Alison,  A.  301,  593 
Allen  & Ticknor,  617 
Allibone.  S.  Austin, 
337,  338,  385 
Am.  News  Co.  204 
Ames,  M.  Clemmer,251 
Anderson,  Robert.  24 
Andre,  Major,  350 
Appleton,  Daniel,  174 
-76, 179-82.190,  235, 
300,  652,  689,  690 
Appleton,  D.  & Co. 
84,  158,  173,  174, 
180,  184,  185,  18/, 
191,  192,  194,  325, 
340.  354,  376,  389, 
401,  415,  438,  442, 
450,  467,  493,  494, 


497,  572,  601,  605, 
656,  661,  682,  689, 
712,  715,  722,  725 
Appleton,  D.  S.  181 
Appleton,  E.  C.  190 
Appleton,  George  S. 

158,  183, 184,  340 
Appleton,  John  A. 
181,  190-2 

Appleton,  William  II. 
35,  36,  174-83,  186, 
188-90,  193,  194, 

299,  401,  556,  716 
Appleton,  W.  W.  184, 
Armistead,  L.  A.  717 
Armstrong,  AndrewC. 

315,  442,  444,  706 
Armstrong,  A.  C.  & 
Son,  444,  585,  587 
Armstrong,  S.  T.  583 
Arnold,  George,  232 
Arnold,  Matthew,  625 
Arthur,  T.  S.  719 
Ashley,  Mary,  668 
Astor,  John  Jacob, 
120,  294,  295,  539, 
542,  681 

Astor,  William  B.  592 
Austen,  Jane,  34 
Austin,  John  M.  60, 
65 

Audubon,  John  J.  581 
Augur,  General,  79 


Bache.BenjaminF.680 
BaMey,  Philip  J.  625 
Baird,  Rev.  R.  369 
Baird,  Henry  Carey, 
315,  550,  558-62 
Baker,  George  E.  135, 


251,  436,  477,  479, 
481-484 

Baker,  George  F.  480 
Baker,  O.  M.  380 
Baker,  Peter  C.  655, 
656,  657,  658 
Baker,  Isaac  D.  441, 
443,  444 

Baker  & Godwin,  656 
Baker,  Pratt  & Co 
656,  658 

Baker  & Scribner, 441, 
Baker,  Voorhies  & 
Co.  30,  655 
Balzac,  Honorede,241 
Bancroft,  Albert  L.  32 
Bancroft,  George,  35, 
42,  158,  188,  203, 
321-32,  354,  593, 

594,  672,  675 
Bancroft,  Hubert  H. 

31,  32,  33 
Bangs,  F.  11.  660 
Bangs,  L.  142,  147 
Bangs  & Co.,  660 
Barnes,  Alfred  C.  579 
Barnes  Alfred  S.  32, 
575,  579,  657 
Barnes,  Charles  J.  579 
Barnes,  Edwin  M.  579 
Barnes,  Henry  B.  579 
Barnes,  John  C.  32 
Barnes,  Richard  S.579 
Barnes,  T.  W.  513 
Barnes,  W.  I).  L.  579 
Barney,  Hiram,  481 
Barrow,  Isaac,  466 
Bartlett,  D.  W.  636 
Bartlett,  John,  672 
Bartlett,  Lieut.  532-34 
Bartlett,  Willard,  195 

[729] 


730 


INDEX. 


Bartlett,  W.  O.  45 
Bates,  Reed  & Co.  703 
Beardsley,  Nelson,  56 
Beauharnais,  Hor- 
tense  de,  124 
Beckwith,  Bishop,  190 
Beckwith,  N.  M.  42 
Beecher,  Catherine  E. 

219,  379,  448,  520 
Beecher,  George,  450 
Beecher,  Mrs.  H.  W. 

207,  475,  476 
Beecher,  Charles,  474 
Beecher,  Rev.  Edward 
450 

Beecher,  Rev.  Henrv 
Ward,  35,  37,  38, 
134,  136,  163,  203, 
207,  217,  218,  219, 
250,  279,  360-62, 

443,  444,  447,  448, 
450,  455-57,  459, 

461,  462,  464-67, 
469-73,  475,  482, 
638-40,705 
Beecher,  Rev.  Lyman, 
446-48,  468,  474 
Bedott,  Widow,  413-17 
Bell,  T.  S.  425 
Bell  & Daldy,  309 
Bellew,  Frank,  239 
Bellows.  Rev.  Henry 
W.  169,  251,  582, 
700 

Bennett  & Bright,  24 
Bennett,  James  Gor- 
don, 372,  427,  481 
Berry,  W.  T.  674 
Beauregard,  G.  T.  498 
713-15,  725 
Bigelow,  John,  42,  85, 
155,  169,  354,  438, 
676,  678-81 
Billings,  Josh, 239,  242 
Bixby,  Daniel,  590-94 
Black,  A.  & E.  674 
Blackwood,  William, 
119,  454,  527 
Blaine,  James  G.  284 
Blair,  M.  487 
Blake,  George  B.  177, 
Blake,  Rev.  J.  L.  31, 
35 


Blakeman,  B.  53,  65 
Blatohford,  Samuel, 
29,  30,  61 

Bleecker,  George  W. 
299 

Blessington,  Lady.  371 
Blessington,  M.  121 
Bless,  Amos,  222 
Bohn,  Henry  G.  593 
Boker,  George  H.  158 
Bonaparte,  Napoleon, 
Lucien,  Caroline, 
Josephine,  Marie, 
Louise,  124 
Bonner,  Robert,  95, 
133,  134,  200,  207, 
215-17.  250,  279, 

416,  424,  468,  470, 
471,  475 

Booth,  Mary  L.  250 
Botta,  Anna  C.  253 
719,  720 

Bouvier,  John,  337 
Bowles,  Samuel,  250 
Boyd,  Robert  L.  658 
Brace,  Charles  L.  42 
Brace,  T.  K.  657 
Brady,  M.  B.  472,  473 
Brainard,  J.  G.  C.  623 
Bridge,  Horatio,  113, 
115,  630,  632,  636 
Briggs,  Charles  F. 

239,  312,  354 
Brigham,  Dr.  A.  67 
Bright,  Edward,  24,25 
Broadhead,  J.  R.  323 
Bromley,  Isaac  H.  531 
Bronte,  Charlotte,  34 
Brooks,  James,  339 
Brooks,  Preston  S.  30 
Brougham,  John,  236 
Brougham,  Lord,  596 
Brown,  James,  670 
Brown,  John  M.  675 
Brown,  S.  A.  638 
Brown,  William,  141 
Browne,  Charles  F. 

232,  239,  242,  411,412 
Browne,  Julius  H.  251 
Brownings,  The,  255, 
259,  313,  314,  459, 
527-529,  535,  624 
Brownlow,  W.  G.  337 


Bryant,  William  Cul- 
len, 25,  38,  42,  ISO- 
153, 155, 159, 161-169, 
171,  172,  184,  198, 
203,  254,  293,  313, 
317,  352,  354,  483, 
539,  540,  582,  600, 
602.  603,  624,  629, 
668,  682 

Bryan,  M.  E.  504,  725 
Bryan,  Sally  M.  422 
Bull,  Ole,  251 
Bullard,  Rev.  Dr.  638, 
Bulwer,  Lord  & Lady, 
370,  371,  386,  524 
Bunce  & Brother,  723 
Bunce,  Oliver  B.  158, 
124,  600,  601 
Burr,  Aaron,  581 
Burgess,  D.  & Co.  705 
Burke,  Edmund,  350 
Burlingame,  E.  L.  195 
Burney,  Francis,  34 
Burns,  Anthony,  427 
Burns,  Robert,  350 
Bushnell,  Horace,  35 
Butler,  Sarah,  569 
Butler,  William  A.  236 
Byron,  Lord,  141, 176, 
325,  347,  350,  371, 
423,  510,  511,  524, 
596,  598,  664 


Cable,  George  W.  715 
Calhoun,  John  C.  62 
Campbell,  Jane  Craw- 
ford, 722 

Campbell,  John  & Co. 
147 

Carey,  E.  L.  550,  552, 
556,  558 

Carey  & Hart,  551, 
554,  558-560 
Carey,  Henry  C.  35, 
315,  550,  559-561 
Carey,  Mathew,  550, 
559 

Carey  & Lea,  141,  295, 
296,  561 

Carleton,  George  W. 
21,  47,  229,  233,  235, 
244,  251,  397,  444, 


INDEX, 


731 


566,  567,  572,  600, 
603,  723,  725 
Carleton,Geo.  W.&Co. 
572,  243,  244,  396, 
532,  692,  720,  723 
Carlisle,  Lord,  454 
Carpenter,  F.  B.  82, 
250,  270,  485-487, 
489,  492,  503 
Carpenter,  W.  S.  42 
Carter  & Hendee,  620 
Carter,  Peter,  Robert, 
jr.,  Walter,  650,  651 
Carter,  Robert,  194 
Carter,  Robert  & Bros. 

649,  650,  651 
Cary,  Alice  & Phoebe, 
35,  132,  203,  204, 
245-248,250-270,279 
280,  585,  586,  591, 
601,  648,  722 
Cary,  Hettie,  664 
Cary,  S.  F.  251 
Cass,  Lewis,  62 
Cassel  & Co.  722 
Century  Club,  42,  43, 
158,  159,  166,  167, 
169,  317,  331,  423, 
540,  642 

Century  Co.  The,  704 
Champagne,  Jules,  125 
Chambers,  Robert, 251 
Chalmers,  Tlios.  651 
Champlin,  J.D.195,720 
Chandler,  J.  R.  339 
Chandler,  W.  P.  641 
Channing,  W.  E.  530, 
581,  616,  623 
Chapin,  Rev.  E.  H. 
35,  37,  38.  135,  251, 
257,  638,  639 
Chase,  Chief  Justice, 
47,  136,  339,  355, 
480,  487,  492,  646 
Chateaubriand,  M.  34 
Cheesebro,  C.  585,  586 
Cheever,  George  B.251 
Chesterfield,  Lord,  34 
Childs,  G.  W.  333-351, 
691,  724 

Childs,  Lydia  M.  35 
Childs  & Peterson,  336 
Chilton,  R.  S.  640,  644 


Choate, R., 359, 672, 675 
Church,  F.  S.  437 
Cisco,  John  J.  481 
Claflin,  W illiam,  289 
Clapp,  H.  jr.  239,  412 
Clare,  Ada,  412 
Clark,  Lewis  Gaylord, 
108,  623,  640,  643 
Clark,  Myron  H.  479 
Clark,  Professor,  662 
Clark,  Rebecca  S.  524 
Clarke,  MaryCowdin, 
350 

Clarke,  M.  St.  C.  552 
Clay,  Henry,  62,  129, 
131,  423,  500,  717 
Clemmer,  Mary,  136, 
260,  261,  267,  270, 
647,  648 

Cleveland,  Grover,  530 
Cleveland,  Aaron,  530 
Clinton,  De  Witt,  120 
Cobden,  Richard,  359 
Coffin,  R.  B.  722 
Cogswell,  D.  539 
Colfax,  S.  44,  251,  486 
Coleridge,  S.  T.  350 
Coles,  Miriam,  569 
Collins  & Brother,  660 
Collins,  Chas.  660 
Collins,  George  B.  583 
Collins  & Keese,  659 
Collins,  T.  K.  555 
Collins,  Wilkie,  395 
Colombier,  Mile.  125 
Colyer,  Robert,  251 
Conant.  S.  S.  105,  685 
Conant,  T.  J.  195 
Conrad,  R.  T.  35 
Conwell,  R.  H.  265 
Conkling,  Alfred,  28 
Conkling,  M.  C.  28 
Conkling,  Roscoe,  28 
Cooke,  D.  B.  648 
Cooke,  John  Esten, 
400,  401,  404-6 
Cooke,  P.  Pendleton, 
402 

Cooley  & Bangs,  179 
Cooley,  J.  E.  179,  659 
Cooley,  Keese  & Hill, 
179,  659 

I Cooley,  T.  M.  195 


Cooper,  J.  Fenimore, 
23,  53,  58,  119,  171, 
250,  277,  292,  293- 
295,  311,  354,  511, 
551,  560.  591-3,  629 
Cooper,  Paul,  511 
Corday,  Charlotte,  124 
Corcoran, Wm.  W.641 
Cornwall,  Barry,  625 
Castle,  M.  B.  130 
Cousin, Y.  325,591,722 
Cowdin,  Elliott  C.  42 
Cowper,  William,  347 
Coxe,  Bishop  A.C.  530 
Coxe,  Alfred  C.  28 
Cozzens,  Frederick  S. 
35,229, 312,314,538- 
541,  543,  640,  643 
Craige,  Josephine,  388 
Crawford,  F.  M.  723 
Crawford,  T.  623,  723 
Crocker  & Brewster, 
299,  580,  653 
Crockett,  David,  552 
Croly,  D.  G.  250 
Croswell,E.51,512,513 
Cummings,  Father, 
108,  607,  608 
Curtis,  George  Wil- 
liam, 35,  96,101,104, 

105,  107,  109,  163, 
171,  314,  627,  683, 
685 

Custis,  George  Wash- 
ington Parke,  690 
Cyclopedia,  American, 

106,  173,  182,  189, 
193-195,  379,  397, 
469,  559,  560,  720 


Dana,  Charles  A.  129, 
182,  189,  193,  194, 
196-199,  359,  360, 
438,  535,  560,  677 
Dana,  Richard  H.  158, 
165,  171,  313,  602 
Dallas,  Mary  Kyle. 416 
Dallas,  the  artist,  6/7 
Dalton,  John  C.  195 
Daly,  C.  P.  142,  655 
Dandridge,Evelin,402 
D’Angely,  Mad.  125 


732 


INDEX. 


Dailey,  F.  O.  C.  309 
Darwin,  Charles,  186 
Davidson,  J . W.391 , 727 
Davidson,  Sisters,  623 
Davies,  Charles,  577 
Davis,  Jefferson,  131, 
401,  434,  493-497, 
499 

Davis,  Rebecca  H.  285 
Daye,  Stephen,  290 
Dayton,  Win.  L.  679 
Dean,  Julia,  251 
Dean,  William  E.  655 
Dearborn,  George,  583 
De  Chaudron,  Ma- 
dame A.  185,  725 
De  Cordova,  R.  J.  354 
Deems,  Rev.  Charles 
F.  250,  260,  262, 
263,  266,  696 
De  Fal,  Daniel,  34, 302 
Defrees,  John  W.  466 
De  Lhuys,  Drouyn,331 
De  la  Rame,  h.(Ouida) 
386,  387 

DeLand,  Thos.  M.675 
De  Long,  Emma,  722 
De  Quincey,  Thomas, 
554,  616,  617,  624 
Derby,  Alice  Cary,  270 
Derby  Brothers,  31 
Derby,  George  H.  31 
Derby,  Henry  W.  33, 
36 

Derby,  J.  C.  22-25,  28, 
29,  40,  42,  71,  75, 
129,  153,  156,  159, 
161,  183,  210,  211, 
212,  234,  374,  408- 
10,  475,  492,  494, 
496,  502,  568,  569, 
633,  638,  667,  680, 
691,  710,  716 
Derby,  J.  C.  & Co.  25 
Derby  & Jackson,  34, 
39,  47,  118,  226,  276, 
390,  409,  411,  443, 
596,  667,  719 
Derby  & Miller,  29,  30, 
63,  117,  131,  132, 
202,  209,  224,  367, 
489,  636,  724 
Derby,  Celia  M.  32 


Derby,  Lavanchie  W. 

210-12,  394,  579 
Derby,  Lezetta,  22,  27 
Derby,  Orton  & Co. 
46 

De  Stael,  Madame,  34 
125,  276 

Deslonde,  M.  D.  725 
De  Tocqueville,  324 
Dewey,  Miss,  157 
Dewey,  Orville,  582 
Diamond  Wedding, 532 
Dickens,  Charles,  203, 
268,  276,  277,  346, 
347,  350,  359,  388, 
413,  511,  622,  624, 
625,  671 

Dickinson,  Anna,  250 
Dillingham,  C.  T.  525 
Dillingham,  G.  W.  244 
Disraeli, Benjamin,  185 
Doane,  Rev.  G.  VV.  121 
Dodd,  M.  W.  605 
Dodd,  Mead  & Co.  605 
Dodge,  Mary  A.  250 
Dodge,  Mary  M.  706 
Dodge,  W.  E.  30,  611 
Doolady,  M.  392,  394 
D’Orsey,  Count,  371 
Dorsey,  Sarah  A.  497 
Dorsheimer,  W.  151 
Doubleday,  Abner,  24 
Doubleday,  U.F.  23,25 
Doyle,  John,  590 
Drake,  Joseph  R.  542, 
Drake,  Samuel  G.  518 
Drake,  John  W.  188 
Drexel,  A.  J.  350,  351 
Drone,  Eaton  S.  195 
Duer,  John,  655 
Duncan, Publisher,  179 
Durand,  A.  B.  42,  294 
Duyckinck,  Evert  A. 
297,  404,  420,  588, 
633,  660,  679 
Dyer,  Oliver,  209-11 


Edwards,  J.  651,  658 
Elder,  Rev.  J.  F.  316 
Elliott,  Charles  L.  539 
640,  643,  644 
Ellsler,  Fanny,  368, 


Ellsworth,  Gov.  377 
Ellsworth,  H.  L.  705 
Ellsworth,  W.  W.  708 
Emerson,  Ralph 
Waldo,  89, 158,  277, 
280,  283,  286,  289, 
313,  328,  339,  519. 
535,  582,  591,  624 
Emerson,  W.E.  582 
Encyclopedia  Britan 
nica,  445,  673 
England,  I.  W.  198, 
Eugene,  Empress,  404 
Evans,  Augusta  J.  390, 
393,  395,  397,  398 
Evans,  F.  W.  42 
Evarts,  William  M. 
71,  84,  655 

Everett,  Edward,  158, 
203,  310,  313,  330, 
471,  616,  624,  672 


Fanshaw,  Daniel,  652 
Farrar,  Canon,  615 
Farmer,  Elijah  P.  657 
Fay,  Theodore  S.  313 
Felt,  David,  583 
Felton,  C.  C.  278 
Fenelon,  Francois,  34 
Fern,  Fanny,  29,  35, 
202,  203,  208-220, 
419 

Field,  Cyrus  W.  611, 
Field,  D.  D.  611,  655 
Field,  Kate,  250 
Field,  Rev.  H.  M.251, 
351,  363,  610-615, 
713 

Field,  Stephen  J.  611 
Fielding,  Henry,  34 
Fields,  James  T.  37, 
41,  232,  251,  287, 
340,  343,  344,  346, 
554,  561,  562,  592, 
595,  607,  617,  619 
620-629,  682 
Fillmore,  Millard,  28, 
30,  117,  339,  482 
Finney,  C.  G.  611 
Fish,  Hamilton,  30, 
216,  480 

Fisk,  Clinton  B.  250 


INDEX, 


733 


Flagg,  Augustus,  625, 
670-675 

Flagg,  Azariah  C.  51 
Flagg,  George,  675 
Flagg  & Gould,  658 
Flash,  Henry  L.  727 
Flemi  ng,  M.  Agnes,  243 
Flint,  Austin,  33.  195 
Fords,  Howard  & Iiul- 
bert,  376 

Forney,  John  W.  69, 
338,  432 

Fosgate,  Blanchard, 68 
Francis,  Charles  S. 
580,  581,  582,  584, 
585 

Francis,  David,  580 
Francis,  D.  G.  581 
Franklin.  Benjamin, 
271,  483,  484,  561, 
671,  679,  680 
Franklin,  Sir  John. 
302,  336 

Franklin,  William 
Temple,  679,  680 
Freeman  & Bolles,  274 
Freeman,  Julia  D.  565 
Freeman,  William, 
trial  of,  63-68,  129 
Fremont,  John  C.  676 
Frost,  Charles  L.  229 
Frost  & Forest,  229 
Frothingham,  O.  B.  193 
Fuller,  Hiram, 230, 589 
Fuller,  Margaret,  623 


Gallatin,  Albert,  328 
Gamble,  Jane,  369, 
374,  375 

Garde,  John  F.  558 
Garfield,  James  A.  33, 
490,  503,  695 
Gay,  Sidney,  H.  26, 
157 

Gaylord,  Aug.  117 
Georges,  Mile.  125 
Gerard,  James  W.  655 
Gibbon,  Edward,  350 
Gibbon,  A.  H.  251 
Gibson,  R.  L.  531 
Gilder,  R.  W.  251,  708 
Gilman  Caroline,  35 


Gladstone,  William  E. 

65,  460,  614 
Goddard,  D.  A.  531 
Gocley,  L.  A.  415,  555 
Godkin,  E.  L.  354 
Godwin,  Daniel,  656 
Godwin,  Parke,  157, 
161,  162,  167,  312, 
354,  681,  682 
Goethe,  Johann  Wolf- 
gang von,  325,  350, 
571,  591 

Goldsmith,  Oliver,  34 
Goodrich,  C.  A.  378 
Goodrich,  F.  B.  113, 
114,123,  126,239,241 
Goodrich,  Samuel  G. 
30,  35,  110,123,326, 
623,  630 

Goodwin,  J.  J.  388 
Gould,  H.  F.  122 
Gould,  Jav,  409 
Gould,  T.  R.  621 
Gourlie,  John  H.  43 
Graham,  W.  H.  145 
Grant,  U.  S.  136,  338 
Gray,  Dr.  168 
Gregory,  J.  G.  46, 
276 

Greeley,  Horace,  72, 
127,  128-134,  136-138. 
143-141,  765,  194, 
203,  205,  222-224, 

247,  248,  250,  259, 
268,  270,  295.  316, 
317,  338,  339,  352, 
360,  362,  423,  427, 
428,  482-484,  639 

Greeley  & McElrath, 
128,  142 

Grigg  & Elliott,  383 
Gregg,  John,  555 
Griswold,  Rufus  W. 
122,  123,  245,  247, 

248,  250,  253,  354, 
526,  554,  586-588, 
591,  623 

Grote,  Mr.  & Mrs. 
371 

Guernsey,  A.  H.  195 
Guild,  Curtis,  723 
Guizot,  M.  323,  371 
Gwin,  W.  M.  70 


Hall,  B.  F.  63 
Hall,  S.  C.  350 
Hall,  John,  205 
Hallam,  H.  310,  593 
Halleck,  Fitz  Greene, 
35,  156,  159,  229, 
250,  293-5,  313,  354, 
538,  542,  543,  582 
584,  591-3,  623,  624, 
629 

Halleck,  H.  W.  430 
Hal  pine,  Charles  G.239 
360, 4i  1,426-8,430-3 
Hamilton,  Frank  H. 33 
Hamilton,  Gail,  245, 
279,  284,  285,  728 
Hamilton,  Wm.  722 
Hamlin,  Hannibal, 430 
Hammond,  W.  A.  697 
Hancock,  Winfield 
Scott,  24-28,  715-18 
Harland,  Marion,  243 
444,  563-7 

Harper  & Brothers,  24, 
28,  37,  61,  86,  87, 
93-5,  106,  123,  131, 
174,  288,  341,  354, 
389,  400,  431,  448, 
481,  507,  509,  510, 
521,  522,  536,  551, 
569,  596,  606,  672, 
681,  683,  687,  689, 
713,  726 

Harper,  Fletcher,  91, 
95,  97,  101-8,  204, 
279,  583,  606,  607 
Harper,  F.  Jr.  108 
Harper,  J.  & J.  95,108, 
509,  652. 

Harper,  James,  87,  89- 
93,  96-8,  100,  102, 
103,  105,  107,  509- 
11,555,  583,  590,  606 
Harper,  J.  Abner,  108 
Harper,  John,  89,  91, 
93-97,  101,  105,  107, 
509,  683 

Harper,  John  W.  108, 
Harper,  Joseph,  87-9 
Harper,  Joseph W.  Jr. 

98,  99,  108,  109,  288 
Harper,  Joseph  Henry, 
105 


734 


INDEX. 


Harper,  J.  Henry,  108 
Harper,  P.  J.  A.  108 
Harper,  Joseph  Wes- 
ley, 9 1,97-1 00,  105-7 
Harte,  Bret,  198,  698 
Harris,  Clarendon,  672 
Harris,  Joel  C.  433-8 
Harris,  Miriam  Coles, 
243,  568-70 
Harrison,  Joseph,  345 
Harrison,  W.  H.  718 
Hart,  Abraham,  550, 
551,  554-8 
Harcourt,  Lord,  330 
Hassard,  J.  R.  G.  194 
Haven,  J.  L.  415 
Haven,  John  P.  652 
Haven,  Alice  B.  415 
Hawes,  Kirk,  571 
Hawes,  Joel,  571 
Hawes,  S.  P.  563,  567 
Hawks,  F.  L.  193,  235 
Hawthorne.  J ulian,  698 
Hawthor  ne,  N a t haniel, 
41.  111-15,  233,  254, 
277,  297,  326,  342  6, 
591,  600,  617,  622, 
624,  630-4,  637 
Hayward,  A.  591,  593 
Hayes,  R.  B.  159,  160 
Hayne,  P.  H.  727 
Hazeltine,  M.  W.  198 
Hazlitt,  W.  34 
Headley,  J.  T.  441 
Heilprin,  M.  194,  195 
Hemans,  Felicia,  259 
Henry,  Joseph,  350 
Henry,  Matthew,  651, 
Herbert,  George,  347 
Herring,  W.  F.  501 
Hicks,  Thomas,  539 
Higginson,  T.  W.  279 
Hillard,  George  S.  623 
Hildreth,  Richard,  35 
Hillhouse,  J.  A.  602 
Hirsh,  IJ.  B.  623 
Hoffman,  C.  F.  545, 
Hoffman,  Ogden,  311. 
Holcomb,  J.  W.  251 
Holland,  J G.  305, 
443,  444,  706,  708 
Holland,  Sir  H.  83 
Holloway,  L.  C.  720 


Holmes,  Daniel,  571 
Holmes,  Mary  J.  243, 
571-74 

Holmes,  Oliver  Wen- 
dell, 35,  158,  278, 
280, 283,  285-87,339, 
456,  491,  523,  591, 
617,  624,  668 
Holt,  Henry,  315,  316 
Hopper,  Isaac  T.  479 
Hopkins,  Josiah,  27 
Hoppin,  Aug.  236 
Hoppin,  W.  J.  42,  43 
Hood,  T.  34,  347 
Hosmer,  Rev.  W.  69 
Houghton,  A.  F.  315 
Houghton,  A.  G.  276 
Houghton,  IJ.  O.  251, 
271-84,  289-91. 
Houghton,  H.O.&Co. 

275,  277,  280,  378 
Houghton,  Lord,  625 
Houghton,  Mifflin  & 

Co.  61,  229,  232,  277, 
280,  281,  400,  453, 
477,  529,  554,  720, 
722 

Houghton,  O.  R.  276 
Howe,  Bishop,  346 
Howe,  Julia  Ward, 
158,  723 

Howells,  W.  D.  198, 
232,  283 

Howitt,  Mary,  121, 350 
Howitt,  William,  625 
Hudson,  F.  366,  481 
Hughes,  Thos.  318,625 
Hugo,  Victor,  239-41 
Hume,  David,  350 
Hunt,  Helen,  285 
Hunt,  Leigh,  350,  625 
Hunt,  li.  M.  42 
Hunt,  T.  S.  195 
Hunter,  R.  M.  T.  402 
Hunter,  William,  44 
Huntington,  D.42,  309 
Hurd  & Houghton, 

276,  492 

Hurd,  M.  M.  276 
Hurlburt,  W.  H.  354 
Hurst,  Bishop,  95 
Hutchinson,  E.  M.  537 
Huxley,  Thomas,  186  J 


Ingraham,  J.  H.  238 
Inman,  H.  472,  562 
Ingersoll,  Grace,  124 
Irving,  Ebenezer,  557 
Irving,  P.  M.  306 
Irving,  Washington 
23,  35,  38-40,  52,  58 
171,  250,  296-312, 
328,  354,  404,  405, 
472,  473,  536.  538, 
539,  541.  542,  557, 
583,  629,  641,  688 
Ivison,  Blakeman, 
Taylor  & Co.  657 
Ivison,  D.  B.  53 
Ivison,  Henry,  22-25, 
27, 49-56,86,316,657 
Ivison.  H.  & Co.  21, 
22,  33,  181,  576 
Ivison,  J.  C.  52 
Ivison  & Phinney,  592 


Jackson,  Andrew,  60, 
225,  331.  706,  718 
Jackson,  Edwin,  34 
Jackson,  T.  J.  401, 
713,  724 

Jackson,  William,  583 
Jacobi,  Mary  P.  319 
James,  G.  P.  R.  404 
James,  Henry,  198 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  61 
Jencks.  T.  A.  250 
Jenkins,  John  S.  29 
Jerrold,  Douglas,  602 
Jewett,  J.  P.  & Co.  452 
457,  518 

Johnson,  Andrew,  76, 
339,  357,  364,  471, 
472,  514 
Jonson,  Ben,  91 
Johnson,  H.  K.  720 
Johnson,  Oliver,  250, 
259,  267 

Johnson,  Rossiter,  720 
Johnson,  Samuel,  671 
Johnson,  W.  E.  126 
Johnston,  A.  S.  713 
Johnston,  J.  E.  712 
Johnston.  R.  M.  726 
Jones,  Georg1,  126, 
341,  353,  360,  367 


INDEX. 


735 


Jones,  John  W.  390 
Jones,  L.  E.  320 
Joy,  C.  A.  40,  195 
Junkin,  D.  X.  716 
Junkin,  George,  724 
Junot,  Madame,  125 


Kane,  E.  K.  336,  337 
Keats,  John,  350 
Keese,  John,  545,  583 
Keese,  William  L.  660 
Kemble,  Fanny,  553 
Kenney,  George  L.  31 
Kennedy,  J.  P.  35 
Kennedy,  Th.  509 
Kensett,  John  F.  317, 
539,  683 

Kent,  Chancellor,  294, 
582,  655,  672,  674 
Keppler,  J.  696 
Kerr,  Orpheus  C.  239 
Kernot.  Henry,  443 
Kimball,  R.  B.  720 
Kinglake,  A.  W.  297 
Kinney,  E.  C.  526, 
Kinney,  W.  B.  527 
Kingsley,  Charles.  625 
Kirk,  J.  Foster,  384 
Kirkland,  C.  M.  582, 
596-7,  623 
Knox,  Richard,  491 
Knox,  T.  W.  250 
Kossuth,  Louis,  482 


Lafayette,  General,  57 
La  Fontaine,  M.  34 
Lamartine,  A.  de  325, 
331,  371,  726 
Lamb,  Charles,  34,350 
Lamb,  Martha,  578 
Lane,  Harriet,  569 
Lander,  P.  H.  251 
Lea  & Blanchard,  551, 
561,  580 

Lea,  Isaac  C.  580 
Leavitt  & Allen,  175 
Leavitt,  G.  A.  672 
Leavitt,  Jonathan  174, 
296,  652,  658 
Leavitt  & Trow,  658 
Lecy,  Benjamin,  187 


Lee,  Custis,  402 
Lee,  Mary  Custis,  691 
Lee,  Robert  E.  401, 
498,  690,  713,  715 
Lee  & Shepard,  491, 
517,  522,  525 
Lee,  Shepard  & Dil- 
lingham, 525 
Lee, William,  517,  519, 
523.  524 

Lenormand,  Mile,  125 
Leslie,  C.  R.  561 
Leslie,  Frank,  499,692, 
694,  696,  697 
Leslie,  Miriam,  Flor- 
ence 692,  697. 
Lesseps,  M.  de,  714 
Le  Yert,  Madame,  726 
Lewis,  C.  T.  531 
Leypoldt  & Holt,  692 
Lieber,  F.  194,  561 
Lightbody,  J.  W.  705 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  44 
46,  74,  76,  80,  81,  90, 
198,  331,  339,  355, 
430,  471,  480,  486, 
488,  492,  504,  514, 
516,  645,  648,  678 
Lindsey,  Lady,  330 
Linton,  W.  J.  600 
Lippincott,  J.  B.  337, 
382,  388,  393,  395, 
555,  590 

Lippincott,  J.  B.  & 
Co.  382,  387,  504, 
668,  679,  727 
Little,  Brown  & Co. 

670,  672,  674 
Little,  Charles  C.  670 
Lockhart,  J.  G.  119 
Lockwood,  Roe,  625 
Long,  George,  295 
Longfellow,  Henry 
W.  158,  203,  277, 

• 278,  280,  283,  286, 
289,  313,  339,  348, 
523,  553,  623,  668 
Longman,  W.  176 
Lord,  Daniel,  655 
Lord,  G.  W.  334,  335 
Lossing,  B.  J.  686-691 
Lothrop,  D.  & Co.  727 
Louis,  Baron,  120 


Lovejoy,  Owen,  486 
Low,  Sampson,  108 
Lowell,  James  Russell, 
232,  277,  286,  287, 
303,  523,  594,  624 
Lynch,  Anna  C.  253, 
Lyons,  Lord,  74,  75 


Macaulay,  T.  B.  554 
Macdonough , A.  R.  708 
MacMillan,  D.  318 
Mahon,  Lord,  310 
Mangan,  J.  C.  662 
Mann,  Horace,  479 
Manning,  H.  E.  186 
Manstieid,  Gen.  711 
Marcy,  W.  L.  51,  58, 
Marley,  John  E.  268 
Marryat,  Francis,  553 
Martin,  Prof.  664 
Martineau,  Harriet, 350 
McCarthy,  Justin,  251 
McCrary.  G.  W.  700 
McMaster,  John  B.  188 
McClellan,  George  B. 
699,  724 

McElrath  & Bangs, 
128,  141 

McElrath, Thomas, 42, 
128,  34,  141,  147 
McLenan,  John,  238 
McVeigh,  Wayne,  531 
McClintock,  John, 108 
McIntosh,  Maria  J.  35 
McDowell,  Gen.  714 
McClutchy,  James,  144 
Mason,  Albert,  657 
Mason  Brothers,  219, 
223 

Mason,  James,  M.  74 
Mathews,  Albert,  720 
Matthews,  C.  585,  588 
Matthews,  Wm.  189 
Maurice,  Rev.  Dr.  186 
Maverick,  A.  146 
Maxwell,  Hugh,  655 
May,  Sophie,  524 
Mayer,  A.  W.  708 
Mead,  G.  G.  338,  687 
Meeks,  J.  C.  652 
Mercien,  W.  A.  509 
Meredith,  Owen,  527 


736 


INDEX, 


Merriam,  Charles,  380 
Merriam,  George,  236, 
377,  379,  380,  450 
Merriam,  G.  & C.  377, 
380,  383 

Merriam,  Homer,  380 
Merrick,  Judge,  645 
Meruni,  A.  M.  660 
Methodist  Book  Con- 
cern, 141 
Michelet,  M.  239 
Mifflin,  G.  H.  276,  277 
Mignet,  M.  325,  330 
Milburn,  W.  H.  37, 
Miller,  N.  C.  27,  46, 
211  357 

Miller,  Orton,  & Co. 
46,  572 

Mitchell,  D.  G.  442 
Mitford,  Mary  Russell, 
350,  594,  617 
Mogridge,  George,  122 
Montaigne,  M.  34 
Montgomery,  H.  28 
Moore,  Augusta,  464 
Moore,  Thomas,  350, 
510,  596 

More,  Hannah,  34,350 
Morgan,  Chris.  30 
Morgan,  E.  B.  30,  366 
Morris,  G.  P.  156,  230, 
591,  623 

Morris  & Willis,  221 
Morse,  R.  C.  605 
Morse,  S.  F.  B.  294, 
605,  706 

Morse,  Sidney  E.  605 
Moser,  W.  437 
Motley,  John  L.  35 
Muhlbach,  Mme,  185 
Muloch,  D.  M.  625 
Munroe  & Francis,  581 
Munroe,  J.  & Co.  519 
Murray,  John,  176 


Napoleon,  L.  42,  371 
Nast,  Thomas,  696 
Neal,  John,  545 
Neal,  Joseph  C.  413 
Nelson,  Lord,  350 
Newcome,  Colonel,  100 
Newell,  Robert  H.  239 


Newman,  Mark  H.  52 
Newman,  Rev.  Dr.  186 
Nichols,  George,  281 
Niebuhr,  B.  G.  325 
Noah,  M.  M.  294 
Nordlioff,  Charles,  724 
Northrup,  H.  B.  62 
Northrup,  Solomon, 63 
Norton,  C.  E.  616 
Norton,  Frank  H.  716 
Noyes,  S.  B.  48 
Noyes,  W.  Curtis,  655 


Oakley,  J.  S.  657,  658 
Oakley  & Mason,  657 
Olmsted,  F.  L.  42 
O’Reilly,  Bernard,  195 
O’Reilly,  Miles,  239, 
360,411.426,429,430 
Owen,  John  J.  658 
Owen,  Robert  D.  250 
Optic,  Oliver,  524 
O’Brien,  Fitz  J.  232 
O’Conor,  Charles,  655 
Orton,  William,  46 
Osgood,  F.  S.  251,  548 
Osgood,  James  R.  & 
Co.  277,  281,  438, 
591,  626,  669 
Osgood,  Samuel,  108 
Otis,  James,  478 
Ouida(De  la  Rame  L.), 
386,  468 


Paine  & Burgess,  705 
Palmer,  J.  W.  240 
Palmer,  Rev.  Dr.  186 
Palmerston,  Lord,  369 
Parkman,  Francis,  672 
Parley,  Peter  (S.  G. 
Goodrich)  110,  115- 
118,  121,  241,  719 
Parsons,  T.  W.  624 
Partington,  Mrs.  (B. 
P.  Shillaber)  407, 
410,  411,  419,  426 
Parton,  James,  35,127, 
143,  203,  .217,  219, 
220,  226,  231,  696 
Pascal,  M.  34 
1 Paul  & Thomas,  89 


Paulding,  James  K 
293,  313,  354,  510, 
511,  582,  629 
Payne,  J.  H.  641 
Perine,  G.  E.  691 
Perkins,  F.  B.  320,474 
Perkins,  T.  C.  705 
Perry,  George,  251 
Peterson.  C.  J.  337 
Pettingill,  S.  M.  201 
Pfaff,  239,  412 
Phelps,  B.  K.  531 
Phillipe,  Louis,  371 
Phillips,  M.  D.518,  524 
Phillips,  Sampson  & 
Co.  232,  281,  287, 
383,  443,  524,  672 
Phillips,  Wendell,  470 
Phinney,  H.  & E.  34 
Phinney,  H.  F.  53,592 
Piatt.,  John  J.  422 
Pickering,  John,  112 
Pierce,  Franklin,  346, 
427,  592,  600,  617, 
618,  635-637 
Pierpont,  John,  158 
Pitkin,  Timothy,  120 
Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  231, 
246,  252,  297,  302, 
348,  546,  548,  585, 
590,  597,  622,  662 
Pope,  Alexander,  488 
Porter,  President,  378 
Porter,  Jane,  34,  350 
Post,  Israel,  582,  599 
Pratt,  Charles  D.  658 
Pratt,  H.  Z.  575.  657 
Pratt,  Oakley  & Co. 
657 

Pratt,  William  T.  658 
Prentice,  George  D. 

203,  419,  425,  549 
Prescott,  W.  H.  327, 
383,  384,  521,  522, 
623,  624,  672,  673 
Preston,  M.  J.  724 
Priestly,  John,  317 
Prime,  S.  Iraeneus, 
108,  163,  604-610, 
615,  651 

Prime,  W.  C.  109 
Prince,  Orton  & 
Miller,  46 


INDEX. 


737 


Proctor,  E.  D.  464 
Proctor,  11.  II.  195 
Pusey,  Rev.  Dr.  185 
Putnam,  G.  H.  815, 

317,  318,  320,  475 
Putnam,  George  P. 

34.  36. 174,  295,  319, 
340,  354,  538,  539, 
554,  557,  583,  625, 
652,  656 

Putnam,  G.  P.  Sons, 

318,  319,  340,  721 
Putnam,  Irving,  318 
Putnam,  Israel,  687 
Putnam,  J.  B.  318 


Radcliffe,  Ann,  34 
Randall,  H.  S.  486 
Randall,  J.  R.  349, 
500,  661,  667 
Randolph,  A.  D.  F. 
81,  97,  354,  464,  651, 
653,  680 

Randolph,  John,  205 
Raymond,  Henry  J. 
72,  353,  364,  366, 
892,  427,  492 
Raymond,  H.  W.  841 
Raymond,  R.  II.  251 
Raymond,  R.  W.  251 
Raymond,  Walter,  361 
Read,  T.  Buchanan, 
35,  313,  314,  623 
Reade,  Charles.  625 
Recamier,  Madame, 
and  Napoleon,  Lu- 
cien  Bonaparte, 
Bernadotte,  Murat, 
Junot,  the  Mont- 
morencies,  August- 
us, Prince  of  Prus- 
sia , Lord  W ellington, 
124 

Red  field,  J.  S.  147, 
254,  477,  478,  585- 
590,  687,  724 
Reed,  Henry,  562 
Reid,  Whitelaw,  646 
Requier,  A.  J.  727 
Reynolds,  General,  24 
Ribble,  Judge,  134 
llice,  A H.  206 


Rice,  Kendall  & Co. 
117 

Richards,  Joseph,  153 
Richardson,  A.  D.  250 
R ichter,  Jean  Paul,  423 
Riley’s  Narrative,  509 
Ripley,  George,  34,  99, 
172,  182,  193,  194, 
196,  227,  251,  255, 
548,  638,  681 
Ritchie,  Anna  Cora, 
565,  622 

Ritchie,  A.  H.  489 
Riverside  Press,  The, 
233,  271,  275,  277, 
278,  281,  290,  291, 
378,  720 

Rives,  W.  C.  674 
Robinson,  D.  F.  657 
Robinson,  C.  S.  707 
Robinson,  Edward,  35 
Robinson,  Solon,  130 
Robinson,  W illiam,  583 
Roe,  A.  S 723,  724 
Rogers,  Randolph,  85 
Rogers,  Samuel,  350, 
561,  583,  584,  593 
Roland,  Mme,  124 
Roman,  Alfred,  713 
Roosevelt,  R.  B.  360 
Rossiter,  T.  P.  539 
Rowley,  H.  C.  380 
Rudd  & Carleton,  236 
Rudd,  E.  P.  236 
Rudd,  George  R.  236 
Ruggles,  Samuel  B.42 
Runkle,  L.  G.  251 
Rush,  James,  559 
Rush,  Richard,  120 
Ruskin,  John,  297 
Russell,  Bull  Run,  75 
Russell,  John,  674 


Sabin,  Joseph,  660 
Sampson,  Charles,  673 
Sanford,  Edward,  655 
Sargent,  Epes,  131,623 
Sarony,  N.  48 
Sartain,  John,  582 
Saunders,  F.  35 
Savage,  John,  255, 
724 


Saxe,  J.  G.  203,  269. 
411,  668 

Schatf,  Phillip,  444 
Schell,  Augustus,  512 
Schoolcraft",  II.  R.  383 
Scott,  F.  H.  <08 
Scott,  T.  A.  614 
Scott, Walter,  Sir,  119, 
293,  350,  386,  491, 
511,  562 

Scott,  Winfield,  709 
Scribner,  Armstrong 
& Co.  354,  444,  445, 
535,  706 

Scribner,  B 1 ai  r,  445, 60 1 
Scribner,  Charles,  235, 
441,  443-445,  567 
Scribner’s  Sons,  Chas. 
195,  198,  445,  601, 
608,  708,  724 
Scudder,  H.  E.  722 
Seabury,  Samuel,  442 
Seaver,  W.  A.  607 
Sedgwick,  C.  M.  584 
Sedgwick,  T.  104, 
655 

Seibt,  Rev.  573 
Seward,  A.  78 
Seward,  C.  A.  30 
Seward,  Frederick W. 
47,  76-80,  84,  135, 
508,  514 

Seward,  Olive  R.  84 
Seward,  William  H. 
29,  52,  56,  57-85, 
129,  135,  142,  184, 
339,  436,  437,  477- 
484,  487,  488,  500, 
506,  514,  681,  710 
Seward,  Weed  & Gree- 
ley, 135 

Seymour,  Edward,  354 
445,  706 

Seymour,  James,  50 
Seymour,  Jonathan,  89 
Seymour,  Mary  F.  48 
Shaftesbury,  Lord,  453 
Shareswood,  Geo.  337 
Shaw,  H.  W.  239,  242 
Shea,  John  G.  195 
Shelley,  P.  B.  641 
Shepard,  C.  A.  B.  518 
Sheridan,  Phil.  717 


738 


INDEX. 


Sherman,  William  T. 

184,  486,  711,717 
Shillaber,  B.  P.  407, 
Sickles.  Daniel  E.  24 
Sigourney,  L.  H.  259 
Silliman,  B.  120 
Simms,  William  Gil- 
more, 818,  585,  586 
Simon,  John,  448 
Sinclair,  S.  259 
Slade,  Governor,  449 
Slidell,  John,  74 
Slocum,  H.  W.  711 
Smalley,  G.  W.  531 
Smith,  Asher  S.  704 
Smith,  Augustine,  147 
Smith,  Elizabeth 
Oakes,  35,  238,  239, 
251,  545,  549 
Smith,  Julie  P.  623 
Smith,  R.  P.  552 
Smith,  Seba,  35,  595 
Smith,  Roswell,  704, 
705,  706,  707,  708 
Smith,  R.  C.  704 
Smollett,  Tobias,  34 
Somerville,  J.  2!0 
Somerville,  John  A.  27 
Somerville,  M.  350 
Southey,  R.  591 
Southworth,  E.  D.  E. 
N.  204 

Sparks,  J.  A.  442 
Sparks,  Jared,  29 
Spaulding,  J.  R.  391 
Spencer,  Herbert,  186 
Spencer,  J.  A.  195 
Spencer,  John  C.  102 
Spinner,  F.  E.  644 
Spofford,  A.  K.  648 
Spofford,  H.  P.  283 
Sprague,  C.  159,  651 
Sprague,  W.  B.  35 
Spring,  Gardner,  605 
Stanly,  Dean,  347 
Stanton,  E.  M.  472 
Stedmau,  Edmund 
Clarence,  138,  169, 
241,  250,  526,  529- 
532,  534-537,  603 
Stephens,  Alexander 
H.  338, 490,500,501, 
502,  503,  504,  725 


Stephens,  Ann  S.  723 
Sterne,  Lawrence,  34 
Stevens,  Abel,  251 
Stockton,  R.  F.  45 
Stoddard,  Richard  H. 
35,  158,  162,  169, 
239,  250,  255,  280, 
535,  595-597,  599, 
600-603,  699 
Stoddard,  E.  B.  603 
Stone,  D.  M.  228 
Stone,  W.  L.  294,  295 
Storrs,  R.  A.  705 
Story,  Joseph,  459, 
672,  674 

Story,  W.  W.  482 
Stowe,  C.  E.  460 
Stowe,  Harriet 
Beecher,  35,  203, 
217,  219,  277,  280, 
283,  284,  286,  289, 
451,  454,  455-460, 
474,  520,  521,  624 
Strebeigh,  R.  M.  145 
Strong,  T.  W.  236 
Sumner,  Charle6,  30, 
65,  t9,  74,  373,  479, 
482,  593,  623,  624, 
647,  685 

Swain,  J.  B.  355 
Swift,  Dean,  34,  350 
Swing,  David.  536 
SwioLon,  W.  55 
Sydney,  Philip,  685 


Tallien,  Madame,  124 
Talmage,  T.  De  W.  696 
Tauchnitz,  the  Pub- 
lisher, 177 
Taylor,  A.  C.  53 
Taylor,  Bayard,  35, 
137,  158,  169,  184, 
279,  301,  302,  316, 
535,591,595-602,623 
Taylor,  Dick,  713 
Taylor,  Jeremy,  328 
Taylor  J.  S.  443 
Taylor,  Moses,  614 
Taylor,  Charles,  47 
Taylor,  Rev.  C.  S.  46 
Taylor,  Zachary,  28, 
30,  62,  69,  330 


Teal,  F.  A.  194,  195 
Tefft,  B.  F.  251 
Tegg,  Thomas,  116 
Tenney,  W.  J.  183, 
494,  495,  497,  720 
Tennyson,  A.  203,  616 
Terhune,  M.  V.  568 
Terry,  Rose,  285 
Thackerav,W.  M.254, 
312,  388,  404-406, 
538,  540-542,  622, 
624,  625,  642,  685 
Thanatopsis,  162,  165, 
Thiers,  M.  234,  371 
Thomas,.  Joseph,  385 
Thomas,  Moses,  39, 
40,  555,  557 
Thomas,  Moses  & 
Sons,  335,  556 
Thomas,  Abel  C.  251 
Thompson,  Elizabeth, 
489,  490 

Thompson,  John  R. 

401,  564,  664 
Thompson,  Mortimer 
M.  (D  i>esticks),  203, 
237,  239 

Thomson,  W.  T 437 
Thompson,  I*.  334 
Throop,  Governor,  51 
Thoreau,  H.  J.  624 
Thorpe,  T.  B.  552 
Ticknor,  B.  II.  625 
Ticknor  & Fields, 262, 
277,  281,  340,  465, 
595,  619,  626,  637 
Ticknor,  George,  624 
Ticknor,  H.  M.  618 
Ticknor,  W.  D.  342, 
344,  345,  346,  592, 
616-618,  635 
Tilden,  S.  J.  159  678 
Timrod,  Henry,  504 
Tinto,  Dick,  239,  241 
Titcomb,  Timothy, 443 
Toombs,  Robert,  504 
Tousey,  Sinclair,  204 
Townsend,  M.  A.  667 
Townsend,  W.  A.  276 
Trollopes,  The,  527 
Trow,  J.  F.  300,  656 
Trowbridge.  J.  T.524 
Trubner  & Co.  54,654 


INDEX, 


739 


Trumbull,  John,  110 
Tuckerman,  H.  T.  570 
Turner,  J.  A.  435 
Turner,  W.  W.  435 
Tyler,  John,  59 
Tyndall,  John,  186 
Tyng,  Rev.  S.  H.  35 

Underhill,  E.  F.,  532 
Underwood,  F.  11.521. 
Underwood,  Henry, 61 

V alentine,  Lawson,  277 
Van  Buren,  J.  64,  370 
Van  Buren,  M.  51,467 
Vanderbilt,  Commo- 
dore, 43-45,  95,  260, 
409,  681,  693,  725 
Vane  Florence,  402 
Van  Nest  Family,  63 
Van  Noslrand,  D.  653 
Vaughn,  Henry,  106 
Veitellc,  I.  D.  195 
Verdery,  M.  J.  266 
Verdi,  Doctor,  71,  79 
Verplanck,  G.  C 42, 
158,  294,  331 
Victor,  M.  V.  721 
Victor,  O.  J.  250,  267 
Vincent,  F.  Sr.  703 
Vincent,  F.  Jr.  701 
Voltaire,  M.  350 
Von  Humboldt,  Baron 
325,  600 

Voorhies,  J.  S.  655 


Wakeman,  A.  481 
Walker,  Evans  & 
Cogswell  393 
Walker,  Alex.  225 
Walsh,  Mike,  423 
Walton,  John,  469 
Walworth,  R.  H.  238 
Walworth,  M.  T.  208 
Ward,  Artemus,  239, 
411,  492 


Ward,  Samuel,  371 
Wardle,  Thomas,  295 
Ware,  William,  581 
Warfield, Catherine  A. 
422,  497 

Warner,  Susan,  304 
Watte rson,  Henry,  725 
Wayland,  Francis,  523 
Webb,  A.  S.  724 
Webb,  C.  H.  242 
Webb,  J.  Watson,  295 
Webster,  Daniel,  62, 
120,  327,  356,  482, 
500,  623,  673,  675 
Webster,  Noah,  272 
377,  378 

Webster,  H.  G.  379 
Weed,  II.  A.  507,  514 
Weed,  Thurlow,  49, 
58,  64,  65,  72,  90, 
102,  133,  135,  165, 
167,  271,  295,  342, 
352,  362,  368,  374, 
506-516,  709,  710 
Weeks,  E.  A.  568 
Welby,  A.  B.  422 
Welles,  Gideon.  44,  74 
Wellford,  Charles, 347 
Wells,  D.  A.  305 
Wesley,  E.  B.  353 
West  & Johnson,  392 
West  & Trow,  658 
Westerland,  Henry, 44 
Whipple,  E.  P.  621 
Whipple,  John,  705 
W hitcher,  M.  B.  414 
Whitcher,  B.  W.  415 
White,  Andrew  D.  531 
White,  G.  C.  416 
Whitehead,  C.  E.  708 
Whiting,  Bishop,  95 
Whitman,  S.  H.  251 
Whittier,  John  Q.  35, 
73,  158,  198,  199, 
245,  247,  248,  250, 
265,  277,  279,  280, 
232-284,  286,  287, 

I 289,  424,  624 


Whittingham,  Bp.  186 
Wickham,  W.  H. 
85 

Wight.  O.W.  256,276, 
279,  722 

Wikoff,  Henry, 368-76 
Wilbour,  C.  E.  236 
Wiley,  C.  292-294 
Wiley,  John,  292-298, 
306 

Wiley  & Putnam,  507 
Wiley,  W.  II.  297 
Wilkes,  Captain,  74 
Wilkins,  Edward,  232 
Wilkins.  Carter  & Co. 
Willard,  Emma,  577 
Willard,  Sylvester,  57 
Williams,  J.  E.  207 
Williams,  Wells,  51 
Williams,  William,  49 
Willis,  N.  P.  35,  156, 
219,  221,  230,  231, 
370,  442,  547,  591, 
596,  622,  629 
Willis,  R.  S.  209 
Wilson,  Augusta  J. 

Evans,  243,  398,  399 
Wilson,  Henry,  136 
Wilson,  J.  G,  168 
Wilson,  L.  M.  398 
Winter,  William,  232 
Wolcott,  Oliver,  120 
Wolfe,  John,  38 
Wood,  George,  655 
Wood,  Julius  J.  72 
Woodford,  O.  P.  657 
Woods,  Leonard,  449 
Woolsey,  T.  D.  35 
Worcester,  J.  386 
W ordswor  th,  W m.  562 


Yancey,  W.  L.  355 
Youmans,  E.  L.  187 
Youmans,  W.  J.  188 
Young,  Brigham,  242 
Young,  John,  30 
Young,  Russell,  251 


